The GLA has this morning released the latest housing figures which show that last quarter only 71 affordable homes were completed. Precisely 2.3% of the 3,000 Khan would have to build to meet his targets…
In the “starts” section, which counts projects that have just begun, Khan tops up his overall figures with ‘open market’ completions which he has nothing to do with, as well as completions from his previous programme. Scraping the barrel…
Rayner has had no qualms rebuking Khan over London’s abysmal housebuilding (while slashing London’s targets) – these latest figures will no doubt add fuel to the fire. Tory assembly member Lord Bailey has written to Rayner asking her to put the Mayor’s Office and GLA in special measures such that they can receive “tailored” (and mandatory) support in actually building some houses. Ouch…
Read Bailey’s letter below:
While Sadiq Khan haemorrhages cash on vanity projects and stalling London services he’s pushing ahead with expanding his team of policy advisers. An advert has now gone up for a permanent adviser in the shadowy Policy and Delivery Unit. In an unfortunate typo Khan says he’s looking for someone with experience in roles “across the pubic or charity sector”…
Proposals for a new Policy and Delivery Unit were put forward in 2021. Since then it has quietly come into operation – there are almost no public mentions of the unit apart from a brief description in last year’s Annual Governance statement:
“The Mayor’s Mayoral Policy and Delivery Unit (MPDU) brings together the Senior Advisors to the Deputy Mayors to oversee and drive delivery of the Mayor’s priorities across portfolios. It also works to ensure policy development is joined-up and coordinated across the GLA family, provides steers on cross-cutting policy and delivery work, and leads the clearance of policy reports and documents.”
In a deleted LinkedIn post the Mayoral Head of Policy said he sought to put together a “team of givers” when creating the unit last year. More vapid work being handed out to ideological allies no doubt…
Khan’s new adviser will take home £57,000 per annum. Not even half of what’s paid to the less-than-useless “night tsar” Amy Lamé…
Sadiq Khan’s wallet-hitting ULEZ expansion cost the taxpayer a whopping £500 million, and despite the spin that emissions are “dramatically” lower, the first report shows that roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations in outer London were just 4.4% lower since the scheme. No need to know the value for money when others are paying for it…
Still, the report tries to spin the abysmal figures, claiming harmful emissions were “21% lower” overall following the expansion. Though the buried ‘context’ section in the report shows the data includes “all of the Mayor’s policies to reduce emissions,” not just the ULEZ expansion. It even admits that it’s impossible to “isolate the impact of the ULEZ and its expansion.” Even when claims of success are impossible to verify, they can’t produce good numbers…
Susan Hall AM slammed the revelations:
“From day one, we were absolutely clear that expanding the ULEZ was going to cost the taxpayer a huge sum and hammer the poorest drivers, whilst making very little difference to air quality in outer London. Despite the Mayor’s outrageous attempts to spin the figures, we can see the effect of the expansion on air quality was minimal.”
A kick in the teeth for those having to fork up the £12.50 daily fee…
Sadiq Khan is now demanding a jaw-dropping £25 billion from the new Labour government to cover the promises he made to secure his re-election. Despite already enjoying a hefty £21 billion annual budget, the London Mayor is not shy about asking for more from taxpayers to fulfil his manifesto pledges. Unfunded promises are a Labour trait…
Neil Garratt AM slammed his calls:
“The vast majority of the manifesto commitments Sadiq Khan was re-elected on depended on a Labour government being elected. Will Rachel Reeves now give in and fund the Mayor’s demands with £25 billion of additional borrowing? We should be very cautious about the taxpayer having to pick up Sadiq’s tab down the road and what demands will come next.”
Reeves would be wise to go through the archives on the ways Khan has splashed taxpayers’ cash in the past before she gives in: beach parties, drag acts, and £10 million to determine the colour of Met Police Officers’ personalities. Meanwhile, the £9 billion he was given – courtesy of the taxpayer – to fund building new homes only achieved 4% of the target. In his manifesto, Khan asked Londoners to “imagine what a Labour mayor and government could do together”. The answer is clearly: waste more of your money…
The London Mayor flew off the handle and ignored all pleas to answer the question, instead going on in half-complete sentences about the LibDems going into coalition in 2010. Khan has of course repeatedly pushed for the cap to be scrapped with constant moaning press releases. He even said last year he would lobby Keir Starmer on the subject. Now his words actually matter it’s “shout until it goes away”…
Now Sadiq Khan’s Transport for London is asking the Labour government to double its pay offer to £500 million (from the Tories’ £250 million). Khan wants to restructure pay offers by being given a huge multi-year package, which would helpfully “remove the current need for annual funding negotiations”. And keep the gravy train well maintained…
Maybe TfL shouldn’t have spent £29 million on self-promoting advertisements and banned almost every type of revenue-generating private adverts on its property. Funnily enough Khan hasn’t resorted to constant online complaining and clamouring for cash this time now that Labour is in. Negotiations will take place behind Labour Party doors…
