Date archive for September, 2008
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Why Brown needs Boris
In his speech at the Unite reception on Saturday night, Gordon Brown did not mince his words about London’s mayor, criticising Boris Johnson’s ill-judged speech in China after the Olympics closing ceremony – and rounding on Johnson’s plans to increase fares above inflation while cancelling the planned charge on gas guzzlers. The fact that the prime minister chose the annual Labour conference event of the biggest trade union in Britain to signal a hardening in the government’s line towards the [...]
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Fallen off track
The latest argument over the tube goes something like this. London Underground says the cost of the next stage of the much-needed investment on the tube, which is organised through the public-private partnership (PPP), is about £4.1bn. Tube Lines, the infrastructure company charged with carrying out this work says it’s more like £7.2bn. The arbiter, who oversees disputes relating to the tube contracts, agrees more with London Underground than Tube Lines, but nonetheless puts the figure at between £5.1bn and [...]
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The bus stops with Boris
This morning, the full scale of Boris Johnson’s above-inflation transport fare rises was revealed. The figures show some very painful price increases for large numbers of Londoners, most notably an 11% increase in the price of a single bus journey on Oyster – up from 90p to £1. David Cameron’s attempts to portray his party as kinder and gentler won’t be helped by that, or by the 10% increase in tube fares for children aged 11 to 15.
The Tories do [...]
