The links between Boris Johnson and the Tory government have failed to improve the lot of Londoners, Jenny Jones, Green Party mayoral candidate said today.
Jones, former Deputy Mayor of London and the Greens’ Mayoral candidate made the comments ahead of Johnson’s speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Liverpool.
Jones said: "The Mayor has failed to lever open any of the Ministerial purses and it is Londoners who are now paying the price.
"The quiet chats haven’t persuaded old chums to do what the Mayor described as ‘the decent thing’. We need a Mayor who will mobilise public opinion and really take the fight to this Government: someone who can kick start noisy cross-party campaigns that force the Government to deal with the cost of London’s housing and polluted air."
Jones’ comments can be found in her article here: http://tinyurl.com/borisfails
They include reactions to:
- Fares rising to compensate for government cuts, with the burden of paying for future investment shifting from the taxpayer to the fare-payer.
- The new housing budget represents a two thirds cut from the one negotiated by Ken Livingstone and can’t be used to build social homes.
- The Mayor now opposes cuts to policing, reversing his previous support for cuts &, his own decision earlier in the year to cut a 150 sergeants from London’s Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
- The Government have ignored the Mayor’s list of 14 things they need to do to solve London’s air pollution problem, despite half a dozen meetings with Ministers.
- The Mayor has had to borrow over £80m for his outer London fund and regeneration fund because the Government unexpectedly cut London’s regional economy budget.