Sadiq Khan warns against Westminster ‘anti-London agenda’ January 17, 2020 Sadiq Khan urged Labour and the Conservatives to ditch their “anti-London agenda” in a speech to City grandees last night. The speech, at the City of London Corporation’s London government dinner, hit out at Boris Johnson’s plans for “re-balancing spending away from London and towards other parts of the country”. However, the Tories weren’t the [...]
Crossrail 2 may already be facing delays, says Sadiq Khan January 16, 2020 Crossrail 2 may have been delayed before government approval has even been given, according to Sadiq Khan. The £41.3bn rail project – a new Tube line running from North to South London – is in limbo as it awaits for the Department for Transport (DfT) to deliberate on its business plan. Under the current funding [...]
City Hall’s 300 per cent rise in office spending under Sadiq Khan queried January 16, 2020 A threefold increase in City Hall office spending under Sadiq Khan has come under question, with one London Assembly member suggesting it could be “uncontrolled”. The assembly’s Budget Committee today released its first response to the mayor’s 2020-21 budget, which details £17bn of public expenditure. Read more: Sadiq Khan has increased press office spending by [...]
Sadiq Khan and Google launch counter extremism fund January 14, 2020 Google and Sadiq Khan have teamed up to create a counter extremism fund in response to November’s London Bridge terror attack. The £800,000 fund, run in partnership with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, will offer grants to local organisations to provide services and education to prevent extremism and radicalisation. Read more: Planning uncertainty between City [...]
Sadiq Khan launches his own green energy company – London Power January 13, 2020 Sadiq Khan has launched his own green energy company, claiming it will save the average household £300-a-year on bills. The mayor of London today unveiled London Power, in conjunction with Octopus Energy, as a part of his Energy for Londoners programme. Read more: New Octopus Energy tarif aims to slash the charging cost of electric [...]
With its foray into facial recognition, Uber is normalising mass surveillance January 13, 2020 The news late last year that Uber plans to introduce facial recognition technology seems to have mostly escaped the notice of the public, buried as the story was beneath five or six paragraphs in most of the reports on the loss of the firm’s London licence. Or perhaps, as one depressing Wall Street Journal headline [...]
City Hall needs a major shake-up if it is to deliver for London January 9, 2020 The immense challenges facing London are growing by the day, and meeting these requires not just a proactive national government but an effective administration at City Hall. The political power of the capital’s own local government is so often underestimated, but there can be no doubt that the mayor of London has the money and [...]
Sadiq Khan has increased press office spending by 26 per cent in four years January 8, 2020 Sadiq Khan has increased spending on the mayor of London’s press operation by 26 per cent since being elected, according to newly released figures. The mayor’s office spent £920,967.95 on communications officers in 2018-19, after his predecesor Boris Johnson spent £732,537.42 in 2015-16. Read more: Questions raised over Rory Stewart association with church under fraud [...]
London gets less per capita transport funding than rest of UK, says report January 6, 2020 London receives one-third less in government funding per rail passenger journey compared to the rest of the country, according to a new report. A study by the Greater London Assembly (GLA) into transport expenditure found that London receives £8 per rail passenger journey from central government, compared to £12 for the rest of the UK. [...]
London bus drivers threaten strike action January 6, 2020 Londoners could face more travel chaos in the new year as 20,000 bus drivers are threatening to strike. Unite is preparing to ballot its members to decide if industrial action is taken over complaints of “chronic levels” of fatigue among bus drivers. Read more: RMT pledges to fight Tory plans for ‘minimum service’ during strikes [...]