Boris ramps up fight against London cuts
BORIS Johnson has stepped up his campaign to protect funding for London’s sprawling transport network, after transport minister Norman Baker hinted that the capital’s Tube, buses and trains would have to suffer cutbacks along with the rest of the country.
Aides to the Mayor said he was “presenting his case clearly to the government, both in public and in private” in order to emphasise the importance of the network to the economic recovery.
Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor’s transport adviser, said: “London’s transport funding must be safeguarded as to cut it would be to sever the motor of the UK economy. Tough decisions have already been made. The capital is already two years ahead of the rest of the country and the government must take these actions into account.”
Johnson has already set out a programme for efficiency savings of £5bn at Transport for London (TfL), counterbalancing an increase in fares across the network which has already been implemented this year.
His renewed campaign to protect TfL came after Baker admitted there is a feeling elsewhere in the UK that “London gets a very good deal. If we are all going to have to take difficult decisions they have to be fair and not be seen to advantage one part of the country over another.”
The mayor last week raised the issue with Prime Minister David Cameron in crunch talks over the public spending cuts.
The Department for Transport will have to shoulder cuts of up to 40 per cent to its £15.9bn budget in the government’s autumn spending review.