London deserves better

Written by Graham Tope and published in Lib Dem Conference Gazette on Sun 21st Sep 2003

Every autumn the Mayor of London does a tour of the Party (and the TUC) conferences. Past years have seen Mayor Livingstone receive a warm reception at the Liberal Democrat conference - what lies in store this time?

With elections for the Mayor of London and London Assembly due next June, we who spend every day probing, challenging, questioning and scrutinising the Mayor's decision know the sort of reception the Mayor should receive - and it's not a favourable one.

Each month London Assembly members get the chance to question the Mayor. I have to say that these sessions are far less jovial, and much more adversarial than they were before Simon Hughes was chosen as our Mayoral candidate earlier this year.

The Mayor has enjoyed some successes over the last 12 months. Congestion charging has been a success, but the budget and the enforcement of the scheme has been a dog's dinner. I can't fault him on trying to put more police on the streets, but his track record, especially when it comes to working with central government, is fast proving a disappointment.

I and my colleagues Sally Hamwee, Lynne Featherstone and Mike Tuffrey have taken the Mayor to task over these aspects and the Mayor has often demonstrated his irritation with us trying to do what we were elected to the Assembly to do. Given that he promised to "introduce the most open, accessible and inclusive style of government in the UK" it has for instance taken months of persistent efforts by Liberal Democrats to get the Mayor to reveal the actual details of the contract he entered into with Capita - and now he has published the details we know why! It's a pretty bad deal for London's council taxpayers!

The Mayor is a tremendous self -publicist. Anybody living in (or even just passing through) London cannot fail to see posters, particularly on public transport, advertising the mayor and his achievements. What you don't see are the all the commitments he makes to the London Assembly that he then fails to deliver on.

And the Mayor's real failures are yet to come. He may have expanded London's bus network, he may have announced an ambitious bid for the Olympics and he may even believe Transport Minister Alistair Darling when government announces promises of helping to fund Cross rail, vital for London's transport infrastructure. But Ken Livingstone threatens to leave London's next Mayor with a budget out of control, no major public transport infrastructure improvements and a lot of posters with his face on London's buses. London deserves better - and you and I know a man who can deliver!