Promise: ‘I want to be crystal clear – no ifs, no buts – what you’ll pay if I’m elected Mayor in May 2016 is what you’ll pay at the end of my 4 years in office’
Reality: Daily and weekly caps are rising by an average of 2%, Travelcard season ticket prices are rising by an average of 2%.
Promise: “Sadiq will set a target for 50 per cent of all new homes in London to be genuinely affordable.”
Reality: His new policy is that he hopes to convince developers to voluntarily meet a target of 35% affordable housing.
Promise: 32,000 police officers on London’s streets.
Reality: Now only committing enough funds to maintain force’s current strength of 31,000 officers.
Promise: “plant two million trees by 2020”
Reality: “No tree planting has been funded since the beginning of this administration”
Promise: Make London run on 100% green energy by 2050.
Reality: Sadiq’s team admit they have no idea what the percentage was when he took over, let alone today, because energy generation is apparently now a matter for central government.
Strikes
Promise: “Make sure there are zero days of strikes”
Reality: Tube strike travel chaos for commuters today.
Sadiq cleverly getting the broken manifesto promises out of the way in the first year…
Today’s papers went big on a whinge from Dave Penman, general secretary of the trade union of senior civil servants, complaining that Whitehall needs more resources because of Brexit. Easy copy for struggling on-duty reporters in the dead week before the New Year. But it really isn’t news…
Today Penman says: “The civil service is going to have to be given more resources to deal with Brexit”. The same point he made on November 23: “With no additional funding, departments will once again be asked to deliver ever more with ever less”. And November 15: “there is a deafening silence from Ministers over whether any additional resources will be provided to deliver this momentous task”. And October 12: “the Government needs to provide the civil service with the capability and capacity necessary to deliver a successful EU exit”. And September 2. And August 31. And July 5. And June 24. You get the idea.
It’s hardly a surprise that the boss of a trade union wants more cash. It’s not even new information either, he’s said the same thing every month since the vote. That’s the problem with the Christmas period: full of repeats…
Len McCluskey is launching his Unite re-election campaign this morning, making an end to free movement one of his main campaign pledges. This puts him noticeably at odds with the pro-open borders Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott. Labour are promising a “populist rebrand” in the new year – is Red Len backing immigration controls a sign of change to come?
Guido noticed that the Unite spinner who briefed out Len’s anti-free movement pledge is Jennie Walsh, who lives in Órgiva, Spain. Jennie writes a blog called “Left from Granada” where she shares her thoughts on “life and politics in las Alpujarras”. As she puts it:
“I moved… with my husband and daughter from leafy north London to Órgiva, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Some have asked why swap Hampstead Heath for Las Alpujarras. I have of course asked the same question. But as I write this blog and the stunning Sierra Lujar range feels close enough to touch, I have no doubt that the decision is the right one.”
Jennie is certainly one who has enjoyed the perks of free movement…
At PMQs Caroline Lucas, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, asked the PM if she would sack Transport Secretary Chris Grayling over Southern Rail. The PM retorted that the unions are the ones responsible for the unnecessary strikes. Shouldn’t Ms Lucas have declared her £7,000 donation from the RMT?
The rules state that “it should be a matter of honour that a financial interest is declared not only .. in debate in the House and its Committees but also whenever a Member is attempting to influence his fellow Members…” Wasn’t Caroline trying to influence the PM on behalf of her RMT sponsors?
This is pretty devastating for Corbyn. Lefties believe that “the workers united can nver be defeated”, well this says they are heading for total defeat. Before brainless Momentum supporters say we can’t trust the pollsters, well YouGov called the Labour leadership elections spot on, twice. Bring on the early election…
Ross Hawkins is reporting that Labour HQ staff have written to the NEC demanding places for staff on the party’s ruling committee:
“It is disappointing that while the Tory prime minister has promised worker representation on company boards that Labour Party workers are currently unrepresented on their own executive.”
The Cobynistas, with some justification, believe that Labour HQ is the last redoubt of New Labour holdouts. They would like to clear out some of the old guard to make way for new comrades. In truth many of the old guard are happy to go so long as they get generous redundancy pay-outs. They can see the writing on the wall…
Ironically, even though Corbyn is usually dogmatically opposed to compulsory redundancies, this week depressed staff demanded in an email to Corbyn that he send“a message of solidarity and support for unionised Labour Party workers in the face of any attempts to ‘purge’ or ‘clear-out’ hard-working staff”. All Corbyn would commit to in writing is that “at this stage” no staff changes are planned. Classic non-denial.
