The London Assembly Question Time with Boris Johnson

On the 15th of October I attended the Mayor's Question Time with the London Assembly at City Hall. I found a few points that were raised stood out in particular:

> The Mayor's PR told us that this May saw a 20% increase in the number of voters for the London Mayor elections since 2006.

> Since the 1st October 2008 the mayor is now the chair of the Met. Police Department. He is also head of Transport For London (TFL).

In my opinion Boris Johnson makes a good head of TFL because he uses public transport himself and is constantly seen cycling the streets of London.

> We discovered that earlier the year the assembly had become concerned about the number of Londoners who pave over their own front lawns.

They conducted the appropriate research and discovered that the total square area that has been paved over front gardens in London is 22 times the size of Hyde Park.

> Boris Johnson told the Assembly that he believes London will pull through the credit crunch and that there is a 'hysteria' in the media at the moment surrounding the credit crunch. Falling bankers will undoubtedly come through this financial crisis.

> During the first quarter of the meeting various protesters from the same group interrupted the meeting to shout about the injustice shown to the cleaners of London Underground. Apparently they are paid below the living wage, and must pay out of their own wages to travel to work.

> Boris on sacking the head of the Met Police, Sir Ian Blair: Boris was clearly bored of this question and said himself that this must be the 20th time it has been publicised. He told the Assembly that many people had complained to him about Sir Ian Blair, and he acted as he saw fit.

> Boris would like to see more ethnic police in the force.

> Bendy London buses will be off the streets by 2015 due to the dangers that they pose to cyclists. Boris expressed a desire to see all buses as route master buses.

> London river transport: The consensus was that there should be more river transport. However, this is hard to organise, and the wharfs need to be organised in order to do so. The 2012 Olympics will be used as an opportunity to galvanise travel.

> Cyclists: There are many cyclist fatalities and injuries because of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). The HGVs need different mirrors so they can see cyclists, and signs warning cyclists that they are not visible to the driver should be placed on the back of all HGVs.

> The mayor does not want to see cuts on front-line services. There will be no police cuts on the streets next year, and more Met. police are needed on the streets.

> How helpful is promoting higher education to everyone? Not all young people in Britain are necessarily academic yet the system pushes everyone to attend a university.

Teenagers who want vocational training rather than academic education feel frustrated: "We should be equipping our children with skills needed for future engineering" (Boris Johnson).

TFL are designing a plan for a 'tube-tunneling' academy. This will provide 20,000 jobs that shall require technical know-how.

A question that is an ongoing subject of debate is 'should the academies be placed in boroughs that want them or those that need them?'.

> 50,000 new and affordable houses are to be built in London by next year (date unspecified).

> Richard Barnbrook, member of the BNP Party put down £140 on the table half way through the meeting.

Barnbrook declared that this was one day's wage for himself and the remaining Assembly members (excluding Boris Johnson).

In a gesture of philanthropy the £140 would go toward struggling pensioners so that they could have a merry Christmas.

Barnbrook implored the other members to do the same. Nobody volunteered to do so at the time.

* According to Barnbrook, Assembly members earn £50,000 per year.

> The mayor is opposed to Labour's plans for building a 3rd runway at Heathrow Airport. It is both costly and will provide more congestion for the environment.

> According to Boris Johnson, more citizens should be insulating their houses so as to save heating. People should be encouraged to have allotments.

Boris is keen to prompt a growth in allotment plots around London, and claimed to make his own cider from home-grown ingredients (!).

> On Youth Crime: Young Londoners are to see a Youth Opportunities Programme being introduced to the city. Boris stated that young people are the answer to some of London’s troubles, and not the problem.

The majority of knife crime happens because of gang-related issues. However, only 2,000 of kids around London are in gangs. A significant but small figure really, when you think of the capital’s population (7,512,400).

Boris Johnson said that: “The vast majority of kids have positive lives. We should stop the hysteria with dangerous children.”

> Interestingly, London’s theatres are a great source of evil to the environment. They produce 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. There are plans to decrease the amount of lighting and electricity that theatres claim to need.

> Previous London mayor Ken Livingstone was present. Apparently he can be found there every month, although he is no longer mayor or part of the assembly. As BNP Party member Richard Bambrook told me after the the Assembly meeting, this is ‘pretty sad’.


In conclusion, what had the potential to be a long three hours of relentless questioning with monotonous pre-prepared answers, was actually an interesting and relevant three hours well spent.

Please see my next blog for a follow up on this slightly report-like review and some great Boris quotes!