John Biggs - on London's un-fare deal

By John Hill on September 17, 2008 1:00 AM |

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John Biggs is the Labour London Assembly member for City and East

EVERY new mayor, Prime Minister or council leader since the beginning of time has some sort of honeymoon, in which they are graceful in victory and enjoy a halo of goodwill from the public.

And, in the early days, all hard decisions can be blamed on your predecessor, who achieves an almost satanic status.

Because of his cheerful and slightly barmy demeanour, the goodwill part is particularly clear with our new London Mayor Boris Johnson. And it is true that charm and warmth can cover a lot of sins in politics, as in the rest of life. But sooner or later hard choices emerge.

This month Boris put up the fares, some by 10 per cent. He is arguing that this is necessary to remedy the sins of his predecessor, and to fill a funding black hole. The problem with that argument is that in local government not even a mayor can create a black hole without being discovered.

The truth is that London has some of the highest fares in the world and to increase them above inflation year after year simply piles on the agony. There are hard choices – and we have asked for but have not yet seen the evidence behind his decision.

This is after all a mayor who says he believes in making savings and that Ken was wasteful. Why, then, does he need yet more money? Something doesn’t add up.

Meanwhile back in the real world, economic shudders hit the Wharf. We are in a period of uncertainty and insecurity. We need to make sure we are best equipped to fight the challenges. Hitting Londoners wallets is a funny way of doing that.