Morning:
20°c
Secret deal hatched by News of the World to hush up details of phone-tapping was sealed in a tiny room at the Royal Courts of Justice
More...
Mayor unveils £3bn safety net to help London beat recession
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard17.12.08
BORIS Johnson today unveiled a £3 billion plan designed to protect Londoners and businesses from the looming recession.
The Mayor said he wanted to inject up to £2billion more cash into the London economy by freezing his cut of the council tax and spending more money on supporting businesses as well as promoting tourism.
The plans aim to save £950million in the next three years by slashing budgets at Transport for London and Scotland Yard.
Both bodies will have their payroll departments merged to save money, while TfL bosses will have their bonuses axed. The Yard is to save £472 million and TfL will save £395 million in the next three financial years.
Mr Johnson said he wanted to see more people with employment skills and promised to provide 1,000 apprenticeships in the GLA.
The Mayor's Economic Recovery Action Plan follows the publication of the Wigley report last week, which warned that London risked losing its position as financial capital of the world.
It consists of nearly 57 measures to ensure that the capital is equipped for the eventual upturn in the economy, including:
l Cutting red tape to make it easier for businesses to tender for GLA business.
l Promoting London through a £1million tourism campaign aimed at leisure and business visitors to capitalise on the favourable exchange rate.
l Helping small businesses with their cashflow by halving the time it takes for GLA group to pay them to 10 working days.
l Backing a new international convention centre for London, which, a recent KPMG report estimates, can bring direct in £400million per year.
Mr Johnson said: "This plan is about using all the resources we have at our disposal to help London through the downturn."
Reader views (12)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
London's conservative mayor Boris Johnson,is trying to do what is best for the city London and it's citizens during a unique and tough financial time.
- Larry, Burnaby/Canada.
I don't know what people were thinking at the time when it was voting for mayor.
- Andy, London
________________________________________________________
About the same level of thought when they voted in this present Government Andy!
GERONIMO
- Geronimo, LONDON MIDDLESEX
Boris is replacing a fleet of buses that are perfect for the job they do with ones that proved in the past they are NOT FIT for purpose. Both Red Arrow routes used to have rigid single deck buses and thousands of passengers were left stranded at stations EVERY day. Thats why Artics were introduced.
Artics are used throughout the world to transport millions of passengers it only here in London that they have come up against a campaign based largely on being able to hop on/off buses which from January could lead to jumping in front of a motor bike!
Lets face it Boris HATES public transport (except taxis) and his decision on council taxes/fares is based on making users of public transport pay more while those who drive pay 11p less!
Anyway at a time when government is trying to INCRESE expenditure Boris wants to CUT this shows he is working to a one of the famous "Tory hidden agendas" to undermine the government and he could'nt care twopence about London.
Why does London need a new convention centre does he not know the commonwealth institute lies empty?
Lets face it Boris is a waster as everyone who goes on about saving money is, afterall they pay cash fares of £2 because they wont load money on to an Oyster card.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
If he want to help Londoners he should cut council tax, create more jobs by allowing the Thames Gateway bridge project as well as the Dagenham dlr extension and freeze public transport fares. Instead he has don the opposite and make Londoners worse off.
- Orlando, London
Will we have any Public Services left in London by the time Boris is done cutting everything? Thank god his powers dont extend to the NHS!
- Anon, London, England
Tom in London, you did make me laugh with your comments about the tourism budget. If the pound is weak, people will flock to London, so why spend money on tourism campaigns?! You've answered your own argument!
- St, London
These are all good initiatives Boris, but if you really want to use "all the resources we have at our disposal" to help small businesses, why dont you allow the team of business advisers at Business Link to use all their skills? At a recent meeting with one of these excellent advisers I was told he could only spend a few hours with me because his targets, which are set by the LDA, were so high. He had the skills, the experience and the knowledge to help my business but was constrained by a culture of target setting at the LDA from using them. I was told I would have to buy the support I needed from a commercial supplier and I simply dont have the funds. Surely the only target you should be interested in is customer satisfaction, but this seems a strange way of going about it.
- Tom, London
He should have frozen transport fare increases, axed his waste of money investigation into a Thames Estuary airport, argued for more jobs in London through more infrastructure projects such as Heathrow Airport expansion and Thames Gateway Bridge, spend money to build more permanent sporting facilities for 2012 Games, why play games with Council Tax when he could have argued for more central Government grants for London? Even then it is welcome as a package, although it is not sufficient for London.
- Atma Singh, London UK
i think he made a big mistake by council tax freeze later in the future the council tax be higher.
i don't know what people were thinking at the time when it was voting for mayor.
- Andy, London
So the average tax payer saves £6 a year thanks to Boris' generosity. There are three million households in London, so that's a total of £18 million. Add the £1 million earmarked for promoting tourism and you have £19 million. What are you going to do with the other £1,981 million that you've pledged to support the London economy with "by freezing [your] cut of the council tax and spending more money on supporting businesses as well as promoting tourism," Boris?
This seems like puff without substance.
TfL cuts are all very well, but when the 10% fare increases in January will cost the average household £60 per year (or, to put it another way, £180 million across London), I think we deserve a slightly better explanation. All of these cuts to services are saving more money than the £6 per year that we're getting back. Where's it all going, Boris?
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall
Cutting back on public transport and the police. Well done Boris. I'm sure that's going to attract a lot of tourists.
- Mick, London, England
The council tax freeze saves me 11p a week. The dismantling of the tourism team and slashing of their budgets Boris brought partly to pay me my 11p a week will cost London millions just when the exchange rate is making us a more attractive destination for millions across Europe (he's *partly* reversed the cuts, and is spinning it as an increase, which is profoundly dishonest). Wrong man, wrong time, I'm afraid.
- Tom, London, UK
