Transport minister fears Tory Crossrail cuts
New transport minister Sadiq Khan believes Crossrail is too advanced to stop - but that the Tories could still cripple the scheme with cuts.
The Tooting MP checked on the progress of the £16billion scheme during his first official visit to Canary Wharf this morning, but was most keen to talk about whether the opposition would squeeze its budget if they assumed power.
Mr Khan, the MP for Tooting, said: "I hope we've reached the tipping point where this project can't be stopped. I've just come from Tottenham Court Road where a huge amount of work is going on. But there's still huge scope for people to come in and make massive cuts."
Conservative leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osbourne have fielded several questions in recent months about their commitment to the scheme, which is expected to start running from 2017. The first pile was installed in Canary Wharf in mid-May and 220 of the 310 piles have already been put in place.
A Tory spokesperson said: "There is no change to our position that Crossrail is an important piece of infrastructure for London. That is why we backed it."
For more information, see The Wharf on Thursday July 30.
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Typical Tory behaviour: complain about London's transport and at the same time undermine new projects that will improve the transport system.