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Alistair Darling: Crossrail will go ahead despite recession
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent17.11.08
CROSSRAIL will not be delayed despite growing fears of a deep and prolonged recession, says Alistair Darling.
The Chancellor is promising that the cross-London line will still open in 2017 as planned.
Doubts have grown in recent months over how the Government and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson will raise the £16 billion for the scheme.
But Mr Darling told the BBC that the Government intended to "maintain investment" in the project.
Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon and Mr Johnson have even discussed whether Crossrail could be speeded up, though so far Department for Transport officials have played down the likelihood of this happening.
Ministers and the Mayor, however, missed a September deadline to agree the fine print of the funding package - which is based on a £3.5 billion special levy on London businesses, a £2.7 billion loan off the back of future rail fares and a £5.1billion grant from the Government.
As the economic downturn hits the capital, concerns will inevitably rise further over whether Mr Johnson will be able to raise £3.5billion from the special tax on firms, especially if many are going bust, cutting their workforce or struggling to survive.
A new report today warned that up to 370,000 jobs could be lost in London by the end of 2010, as it bears the brunt of the recession while many of England's northern cities weather the storm.
Almost two out of five jobs that could be at risk in the next two years are in London and the South-East, according to the study for the Local Government Association. The capital would lose 7.9 per cent of its jobs and the South-East 280,000, or 6.3 per cent.
The number of jobs predicted to go in other regions are: 170,000 in Yorkshire & Humberside, (6.8 per cent); 230,000 in the North-West (6.7); 180,000 in the West Midlands (6.6); 280,000 in the South-East (6.3); 130,000 in the East Midlands (6.0); 170,000 in the East (also 6.0); 70,000 in the North-East (5.7); and 130,000 in the South-West (5.1).
LGA chairman Margaret Eaton said: "It is clear that a national, one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with the recession simply isn't going to work.
"The research shows that the fastest way to get out of recession is for more decisions about the economy to be taken at the local level, which means councils continuing to work with local people and businesses."
The estimates are of net job losses and so mean that more than 1.7 million jobs will cease to exist since some new posts will be created during the period.
Banks are forecast to cut tens of thousands of jobs in London but the construction and manufacturing industries will still be hardest hit by the economic slump, according to the LGA report.
It found that the capital had relatively few of the industries that were likely to perform the best, but equally few of those that were likely to perform the worst. London performed poorly in the last two recessions and slightly below average in the past two years.
The South-East has the highest concentration of the industries that are likely to perform best during the economic crisis.
Reader views (5)
I think Derling is stupid.
- Georgie, London
This project will provide employment for mainly immigrant labour while the local population continue 'going to college' or claiming benefits.
Anyone who thinks people are going to traverse London, a 45 minute trip at least, to go to work is living in a fool's paradise.
- John, Westminster, London
Surely a lot of public spending on big infrastructire projects is exactly what's needed during a recession? It creates employment, it guarantees better prices from contractors who are desperate for work, and the projects will be needed to support the economy when the recession is over.
- Nigel, London
"Will not be delayed" - it already is. If the government had signed the contracts in 1997 when they came to power, not only would the job be finished by now, but it would have cost a lot less.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
Crossrail could be speeded up if electrification of the main lines between Paddington and Maidenhead started ASAP in the new year. This would allow work on this to take place before the main tunnels are built.
The above would allow Crossrail to be built in stages with new electric trains into Paddington by about 2015, then diverted to the new Paddington crossrail station and then through journeys. A similar approach could be taken in the east with construction of the new Isle of Dogs station starting ASAP.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
