Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Assemby Life Under Boris

Below is the latest Consistency report from Labour London Assemby member, John Biggs - on City Hall summer chaos; the sacking of Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair; Crossrail and various other London bits and pieces.

It has been an eventful summer at City Hall, with chaos in Boris Johnson’s administration, and a sense of drift only slowly lifting as the Autumn has approached. To the wider world this largely sat hidden, as his political honeymoon continued. Inside City Hall, the politics were somewhat surreal with confusion about who was in charge and where we were going. All of this has of course happened as a mere sideshow to the emerging financial crises. Is Boris in the waiting room for greater things or a true servant of London? And are the two linked? Meanwhile, Labour and other opposition members are slowly finding a target on which to focus.

Who is in charge?

In my last report, I explained how Boris was building a team with grand job titles, and a multiplicity of Deputy Mayors. He was basing his leadership on widespread delegation of his powers, a bit like an emperor presiding over a disparate empire. He had already lost one deputy Mayor (Ray Lewis) and an adviser (James McGrath). Vultures were circling over Sir Simon Milton, torn between his role as a Mayoral adviser and his job as leader of Westminster Council and Chairman of the Local Government Association- arguably the law stopped him from working for one authority while leading another. Tim Parker, a wealthy businessman, was the ‘First Deputy Mayor’, and Chair of TfL, and very much in charge, and busy writing the blueprint for the next four years. This would be partly guided by the Wheatcroft Report, a ‘Forensic Audit’ panel of Tories appointed to dig into the LDA and find smoking guns, which was about to be published and which would both uncover the dreadfulness of Ken’s reign and shine a light into the future……

Things have changed quite a lot since then.

First, the Wheatcroft Report proved to be a disappointment. It found no scandals and made a number of rather general proposals about structures, savings and priorities that have since been largely ignored. Boris quickly moved to claim that it was only an advisory piece of work from which he would pick recommendations as he saw fit. More accurately, his new team of advisers were hardly likely to have their freedom constrained by a bunch of outsiders on the basis of a quick and superficial report.

Second, the long-awaited ‘100 day review’ never really happened. This was promised in his manifesto. Sometimes Boris claimed it was the Wheatcroft Report, in which case his disavowal of it rather negated its purpose. Other times he said it was Tim Parker’s blueprint, or ‘Direction of Travel’ document, due initially in mid-July but then promised in mid-August. Assuming this was the case, mid-August came and went and nothing appeared until it was announced that Mr Parker had resigned as ‘First Deputy Mayor’ (although he stays on the TfL board). Formally, he had left because the Mayor had decided after all that he wanted to chair TfL and this left Tim without enough to do. Privately, we all know that there had been a falling out in the Mayor’s office and Tim had to go. The other Mayoral advisers were impatient with his style and alarmed that a man who was good at re-engineering private companies (that’s how he made his fortune in private equity) knew nothing about how public services work. In parallel with Tim Parker’s departure, Simon Milton finally resolved his conflicts by agreeing to stand down from his local government roles to concentrate full-time on City Hall. He has now effectively become the new First Deputy Mayor, although, the Mayor realising that titles don’t actually get the job done, and reflecting his new and more hands on style, the title has been abandoned and he is a mere Deputy Mayor, like all the other ones.

This is all a bit technical but in essence what has happened is that Boris Johnson has realised that he has to offer greater leadership. So he has taken the Chair of TfL, taken back his responsibility for planning decisions, and surrounded himself with a team who appear to be able to work together and to have a better idea of how things work. I predict that one or two further advisers will go soon but that we will now enter a period in which the political desires of the new administration will become clearer.

Emerging changes to Style of leadership
The Mayor is now Chair of TfL, of the London Waste & Recycling Board and of the Police Authority. He has reversed his delegation of planning decisions so now makes these himself. He has in other words moved from a very laid back to a more hands on administration. He has also built a team with strong experience of London politics, and largely rejected the Central Office Tories initially placed in his office. He is also asserting a more clearly London-focussed approach and beginning to use City Hall as a platform for his promotion around London issues. I think he has found it quite a revelation moving into London politics, and will find that his natural fairly right-wing instincts need to be modified for the heaving multicultural city. Leaving aside ideological differences we may have, this is a welcome development. London will change him.

Emerging Themes
Boris has continued to make fairly minor but eye-catching announcements, such as to fund street trees, abolish the Londoner newspaper and Venezuelan oil deal, and extend free travel to injured war veterans. He has begun to make more far-reaching announcements, for example issuing budget guidance, the key element of which is a freeze on the GLA Council Tax precept.


At the recent Tory Party conference he made a number of other announcements, in particular to fund 10 City Academy schools in London. As the budgets of the different parts of the GLA emerge in the next couple of months, and as their boards begin to assert themselves, we will begin to see other clear policy departures from the previous Mayor. For instance, we expect a number of transport schemes, such as the Cross River tram, to be axed. We will also, I think, begin to see pressure on police numbers – since extra police were funded through the Council Tax, a freeze on Council Tax at a time of economic pressure is not sustainable without, in the end, cuts in services.

Strangely, however, for a Mayor trying to give a ‘low tax’ signal, he has just increased fares by above the rate of inflation. A slightly confusing signal.

There are a whole number of other emerging issues. These include his adoption of an increased Living wage, announcement of a restructuring at City Hall (although less far-reaching than the headlines suggest), and a continued emphasis on a less interventionist relationship with Boroughs. At the same time evidence mounts that in a number of areas this is unsustainable. For example, a growing tension over affordable housing – how will he meet his manifesto target of 50,000 homes in 3 years while letting boroughs determine their own targets? There is also the question of what he actually means by affordable housing, with evidence that this is more about home ownership than renting, and the effect this will have on supply and on waiting lists. There's also an inevitability that he will want to spend more in the suburbs and West End and less in the poorer parts of London. And of course a new emphasis (this is Tory Party policy but has arguably not been very well thought through) on involving the not-for-profit sector in providing services. It will be an interesting time.

Ian Blair
Having assumed the Chair of the Police Authority on Wednesday 1st October, the date when new statutory powers allowing this to happen came into force (and prior to which Labour’s Len Duvall was the Chair) the Mayor almost immediately proceeded to ‘sack’ the Commissioner, Ian Blair. Strictly it wasn’t a dismissal, because he has no power to do that and the Commissioner could have put up a fight, but it was a forceful assertion of his new power. Crime and community safety was the most important issue in his campaign and now he must deliver on it. Interestingly, the assertion of personal power is a two-edged sword, and it could hurt him because, regardless of the constitutional details, he is now absolutely clearly identified as the person responsible for delivering a safer London. It will be fascinating to observe progress in this area.

For the record, my view is that it is unlikely that Ian Blair would have lasted a long time with Boris or (although he was particularly hated by the Tories) quite likely under any Chair. He had, in spite of much good work, become a controversial figure because of his outspokenness and other events, particularly, but not only, the de Menezes shooting. I think London’s policing is better for his time here, although it may take a while before this is recognised across London.

Other emerging issues

Crossrail
It appears that the new administration is no less determined to build Crossrail than the old one, which is welcome. However, there is a far greater anxiety (and economic developments help to fuel this) about the pressures on funding this and as a result I expect a number of other ‘pipeline’ transport investments to be pushed back or dropped. This will become clearer in the next three or so months.

PPP: Metronet & Tubelines
The two PPP contracts to fix the tube are about to enter their 7½ year reviews. This is provided for in the contract but the bottom line is that it means they will cost at least £1.5billion more each than budgeted over the next 7½ year period of the 30 year contracts. The Government says there is no more money (would they have said the same to Ken? – probably?).


One contract, Metronet, which fixes the subsurface and three of the deep tube lines, has of course gone bust and been transferred to TfL, who have as a result far greater scope to reduce the amount of work being carried out (although not massively so, as otherwise the purpose of the PPPs, to put the tube in good order, will be defeated). There will be inevitably a reduction in station works. In the case of Tubelines, which fixes the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, there will be negotiations and maybe some changes to make the contracts more affordable. Whatever happens, however, there will be tough spending decisions in order to fund the tube repairs.

Local issues:-

City Airport
London City Airport has just been given permission for roughly a 50% increase in flights. The Mayor has no veto over this but did indicate that he felt this took flight numbers towards the limit and that a proposed second increase of about 50% would be excessive. This may become an issue, although current economic developments suggest this will be less urgent than it might have been.

Blackwall Tunnel/Thames Gateway Bridge
The Mayor continues to grapple with his proposal to re-introduce peak-time contraflow into the Blackwall Tunnels. My hunch is that he will in the end decide that he cannot, for safety reasons, but I may be wrong. One of the reasons he wanted to do this was as a part of his opposition to the Thames Gateway Bridge, with his manifesto hinting that he might well scrap the plans. There has been intense lobbying, and as a result we think a decision on whether to go ahead with the promotion of the bridge, or to scrap it, will be announced in the next few weeks. I believe that there is a chance that, with a sufficient clutch of fig leaves, he may reverse his decision and proceed. Let us see…..

Other Local Issues
Our new Mayor dominates in this report. A supplementary report contains a more detailed account on a range of constituency issues that I have been involved in since my last report. In summary, this includes grappling with the inconvenience caused by Bank/Monument Station repairs and partial closures, whether Tower Gateway DLR Station might re-open sooner, East London Line replacement services (we managed to get a service re-routed, making big journey time savings), DLR replacement bus services, the DLR extension to Dagenham Dock (will it now happen?). Bus matters include the S2, 488 and D3 services in Tower Hamlets, 101and 474 in Newham and other local routes in Barking & Dagenham. I have continued to work with the Bethnal Green Memorial campaign, and on Barking-Gospel Oak matters. I have been meeting with a number of faith and community groups in Barking and Dagenham. I have also been talking to some residents about a London-wide approach to licensing entertainment venues.

John Biggs AM, Member for City & East London City Hall The Queens Walk SE1 2AA Email: johndotbiggsatlondondotgovdotuk 020 7983 4350/6(w), 07974 918322(m)

7 comments:

Tom said...

Check out boriswatch, especially the stuff about venezuela. Ditching this has cost london millions, for no discernible gain.

Anonymous said...

Please see the letter that Boris has sent to LB Newham about London City Airport. It's not all cut and dry that they were doing the right thing for their residents.

http://londoncityairportfighttheflights.blogspot.com/2008/10/mayor-of-london-tells-newham-follow.html

Anonymous said...

I am glad Boris is still standing up for City deregulation and City bonuses

After all his latest business advisor does not pay a penny in tax in the UK

just like Tory Lord Ashcroft based in Central america to avoid taxes while pouring millions into marginal seats

Thank goodness for Eaton

tally ho

Anonymous said...

I love it that you are soooo bitter over the election of Boris...this blog spent months saying how Livingston would be re-elected and Londoners VOTED him out - geddit? Democracy! Get used to it Boris is in. Hooray!

John Gray said...

Hi Miller
Very true!

Hi “City Airport” Anon
I had a look at the letter and I’m sorry but its a complete wet fish fob off! If he is opposed to expansion he should come out and say it! Now, depending on flight paths tomorrow morning at 6am I will wake up to hear planes overhead – so I have some symphony with the arguments against expansion. But it provides a lot of jobs in Newham and next week I will fly out to Geneva via... you can guess.

Hi Anon
tally ho! indeed

Hi Anon 3
I bought a badge after May 1 with the logo “Don’t Blame me I voted Ken” which I wear very proudly!

Anonymous said...

"I have some symphony with the arguments against expansion. But it provides a lot of jobs in Newham and next week I will fly out to Geneva via... you can guess."
It has only created just over 100 jobs for Newham Residents over the last 20 years (stated from the airport it's self to Timms.) All the other jobs are what they like to say they created. Any business could if it wanted to claim false figures like 2000. I could state that because I live in the area I have created 1000's of jobs i.e. Anyone in transport, Shop workers, council workers all are there because I and other people live in the area.
So please stop spouting this rubbish about jobs from London City Airport it's getting very tiring.

John Gray said...

Hi Anon (Alan?)
The only person I know who works at the airport left being a caretaker to become a fairly well paid fire-fighter. We can agree to differ over the amount of local jobs the airport has created. But I think it is nonsensical to pretend that there are not local economic benefits. As I have posted elsewhere you can make an environmental case against expansion but don’t discredit your case by disputing the bleeding obvious.