KHOODEELAAR! updating the focus on RUTH KELLY's crass role in peddling for CRASSrail Big Business agenda [99]

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1642 GMT 1742 Hrs UK time London Sunday 7 September 2008:

KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! We have said all along, for 4 years and 8 months now, that the London Crossrail hole scam, the ‘Crossrail’; ‘project’ is a sham project. that it is NOT the answer to the existing transport NEEDS and transport deficit in London and in the adjoining areas. That it is a con that has been contrived by CONSTRUCTION conglomerates who want to fleece the public under the excuse, pretext, cover and propaganda of and for Crossrail…. What we have said in the past has not been commented on by the Govt. Why ? Because they know we have been telling the truth and they also know that they are LUMBERED with the crassly conceived Crossrail...The evidence shows that on every key aspect of our comments, we have been proven to have got the facts right, the interpretation right and that the latest  evidence, as we have been reporting in the past three months, show that CROSSRAIL was indeed crassly peddled and wrongly promoted via Gordon Brown and via his then newly appointed Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly……. Just under a year ago, on 20 September 2007, RUTH KELLY was featured in the fanatically pro-Crossrail hole plot London EVENING nostandards STANDARD ‘news’ item, another mad plug by that lying paper, of the CRASSrail hole scam. Today, as the Mail on Sunday [MoS] [7 September 2008]  reports [and as we have already commented this morning] Ruth Kelly is featured as being ready to resign rather than be demoted in a widely touted Gordon Brown cabinet reshuffle.
KHOODEELAAR! will be reviewing Ruth Kelly’s role in plugging Crossrail.  Before doing so, we wanted to put on the record the actual contents of what the EVENING nostandards STANDARD had published about Ruth Kelly and Crossrail. A significant number of utterances contained in that piece have been exposed as sham since then. We shall be publishing on those shortly. For now, a look at the item as accessible via the web site of the London EVENING nostandards STANDARD, below:



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Show us your money says Kelly with Crossrail on a knife-edge
Joe Murphy, Evening Standard
20.09.07
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Crossrail was on a knife-edge today as the Government ordered London businesses to pay more for the project.

In a dramatic interview with the Evening Standard, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly called on major firms to offer "very substantial contributions".

"Put real money on the table now," she declared in what will be interpreted as a challenge to major Crossrail supporters such as BA. "We need to see the colour of your money - and then we'll be in a position to take a decision on the affordability."

Taking business leaders by surprise, she said that those firms which were "clear beneficiaries" of the scheme should be prepared to dig deeper than the rest.

"We are expecting some clear beneficiaries of the project to contribute," she said. "I want the private sector to turn its words into real contributions."

She increased pressure further by setting a deadline for a deal to be struck - the unveiling of the Comprehensive Spending Review this autumn.

The tough stance by Ms Kelly, who was giving her first interview as Transport Secretary, comes on the same day that members of the Campaign for Crossrail lobbying group are meeting her to be briefed on the future of Crossrail. They called on her to clarify how much they are being expected to pay but said they were more than willing to "talk turkey".

Despite recent speculation of a final go-ahead announcement at the Labour Party conference next week, there is now the prospect of weeks of heavy-duty negotiations, with billions of pounds - and the future of Crossrail - at stake.

Businesses like BA, Heathrow Airport and Canary Wharf are likely to be among Ms Kelly's targets for donations because they stand to be big gainers when the railway is finally built.

Ms Kelly refused to be drawn on how much she wanted from individual companies but made clear that she wants more than the three pence on London business rates that private sector leaders have proposed so far. "Londoners in particular are going to benefit from Crossrail and it is right, I think, that there should be some contribution from Londoners," she said.

"But there are also going to be particular beneficiaries from the project and I think it's time to get that trade-off right and get cash contributions as well."

Asked if she meant millions or billions, the minister replied: "We are looking for very substantial

contributions." Ms Kelly insisted ministers were hugely committed to Crossrail and pointed out that the Government had already spent £400 million and put legislation before Parliament. "I would like to be the Transport Secretary who is able to give it the go-ahead."

She recalled: "We were having this meeting on Tuesday and one of the officials said: 'Do you know, 20 years ago I went into No 10 and br iefed Margare t Thatcher on Crossrail?'

"This is a project that has befuddled governments for a very long time. Now we are almost there."

Asked what would be the consequences if the comprehensive spending review deadline were not met, she refused to rule out the scheme being delayed for years or abandoned altogether.

Business chiefs have long accused the Government of keeping them in the dark about the "funding gap" that the private sector is meant to make up. They will demandmore clarity at today's talks so they can decide how best to find the money.

Baroness Valentine, chief executive of business organisation London First, said: "If today's the day that Ruth Kelly wants to 'talk turkey' we're more than ready."

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