KHOODEELAAR! text of Muhammad Haque's comment to EVENING STANDARD about D Cameron's plan on Crossrail

1630 Hrs GMT

London Tuesday 5 May 2009

The following is the actual text of KHOODEELAAR! Organiser Muhamamd Haque's comment sent to the London EVENING STANDARD' web site. In the version published on the EVENING nostandards STANDARD web site, the comment item contains about 4 spelling errors. The item below was written this morning [Tuesday 5 May 2009] and was the first comment to be published on today's EVENING STANDARD web site about the paper’s story that if elected the David Cameron-led Conservative Party would IN EFFECT [KHOODEELAAR! interpretation this] scrap Crossrail on the ground of costs..:



If this becomes Tory Party policy then it sure will bring more
than one added advantage in favour of D Cameron. Boris
Johnson has already made a mess of an already very crassly
put together [no, cobbled together at inordinate cost to the
public, as your paper reported in 2005-2006] scheme. Best
thing that ANY genuinely democratic administration at the UK
centre can do on this and any other big infrastructure publicly
paid for project is to get the economic case made before any
legislative backing. No reliable compelling or foreseeable
economic case exists for the costs or the devastations of
Crossrail. Far less for the £Billions of debts.. In Parliament,
they [The Tony Blair and then the Brown administration] put a
permanent ban on the two ‘Crossrail Bill Select Committees’
[in the Commons] between january 2006 and December 2007
and then in the Lords] scrutinizing the costs or the impact
on the economy or on the the environment or communities
affected.
- Muhammad Haque, London



AADHIKARonline quoting below the item and the comments as published on the web site of the London EVENING STANDARD today, Tuesday 5 May 2009:


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Under threat: Crossrail
Crossrail under threat if Tories win next election
Nicholas Cecil
05.05.09
Look here too
Tube and rail workers protest at Parliament
Crossrail could be delayed at the 11th hour if the Conservatives win power, it emerged today.

They are said to have made the £16billion cross-London rail scheme a possible savings target.

The main construction work on Crossrail is due to start late next year, after the general election expected in May.

However, fears are now growing that David Cameron could halt the rail project as Margaret Thatcher did following the recession in the early Nineties.

Crossrail was given the go-ahead in 1990, but four years later the Treasury decided it could not afford both it and the Jubilee Line extension.

Tory leader Mr Cameron has vowed not to shy away from tough decisions in order to cut Britain's ballooning debt mountain.

Conservative sources today stressed that no schemes had been ruled out from any cost-cutting measures - but shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said there was no "current" review of Crossrail, sparking confusion over the Tory stance.

London Mayor Boris Johnson defended the importance of the new rail line, which will run from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west through tunnels under central London and out to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

"This is one of those moments in politics when you reverse the usual rule and get in a hole - and keep on digging," he told The Times. "Crossrail will make London a far better place to compete.

"Not only will it deliver jobs and growth in the short term, it will help to make our city far more liveable and more attractive as a place to come and invest."

However, the row over businesses in London being asked to pay a new levy to raise £3.5billion to fund Crossrail escalated today.

Mr Johnson has clashed with Communities Secretary Hazel Blears after demanding a formal exemption from having to poll firms in the capital on the levy. The Business Rate Supplements Bill, currently going through Parliament, forces local authorities to ballot firms if they are being asked to pay more than a third towards a development.

London businesses are not being asked to contribute such a large share for Crossrail, but Mr Johnson is concerned that business leaders could launch legal action to force him to order a vote.

Chancellor Alistair Darling and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon are backing the Mayor's stance but Ms Blears's department is insisting that it cannot have "one rule for London and one rule for the rest of the country".

A senior Whitehall source said: "The fear is that unless there is a specific exemption then the rules as they apply to Crossrail could be subject to a judicial review.

"We accept the point that Boris, in the year before a mayoral election, and just after a major recession, could not be expected to win a ballot of businesses on Crossrail."

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Reader Views (19) Add your view
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
I'm not sure if many of the correspondents here use the tube often during the rush hour. Tube trains are so full that people can't get on at the stations, let alone find a seat on the train. Trains run with 2 or 2.5 minute intervals, and spend up to a minute in some stations because the sheer volume of people getting on/off necessitates such a dwell time.

It's common sense that you need to allow time for braking / acceleration and to keep a safe distance between trains - once the current round of tube upgrades is finished, there's not much further work that can be done to improve capacity or frequency, without a huge cost and small incremental benefit.

Of course one new rail line is not going to benefit all of London - but it will have a sizeable impact on the central zone, taking passengers travelling through Liverpool Street and Stratford off of the Central, H&C, and Met lines, passengers travelling through Paddington off the Bakerloo, H&C and Circle line, Canary Wharf will take passengers off the Jubilee line, and the interchange at Abbeywood will ease congestion on the inner SE London services, and reduce the number of people changing onto the Northern and Jubilee at London Bridge.

The Central, Northern, and Jubilee lines are already at capacity as any regular traveller would know - anything that eases this makes perfect sense and in the current climate this makes a great, valuable, Keynesian stimulus.

- Mark Lee, Vauxhall

Crossrail is a COMPLETE AND UTTER WASTE OF MONEY. For the price of Crossrail you could probably build at least two brand new underground lines and modernise or extend the rest of the underground and over ground network in London and still have billions left over.

- Matt, London UK

The fact that the Tories *may* halt Crossrail *if* they get to power is no truer than the fact that they *may* scrap the Olympics, *may* force government workers to fund their own pensions or *may* increase taxes.

Then again, do we really need another tunnel carrying trains under London? Why not get the existing ones to work more efficiently and cheaply?

- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland

It's this kind of short-sightedness that meant Labour had to spend billions repairing public infrastructure after 1997. We have a clogged up tube system as any commuter knows and it needs some relief. Crossrail has dragged on for so long with huge advisor fees no doubt that to pull out would be madness. And it's the sort of building project that could boost the London economy both in its construction and eventual use.

- Tony Mcmahon, London, UK

Crossrail KAPUT. Good i am fed up with all the road works.
If they can promise not to dig up any more roads ,then i might say ok .

- Mr. S.Port, London

"I was still at school when Crossrail was first proposed. By the time it's actually built and running I'll be retired. No wonder this country is going to the dogs.

- John, Biggleswade"

===============

Exactly my sentiments.

Think about this: the Tories don't understand the difference between investing in the future and current spending. Do Londoners want their children to have to put up with the transport system as it is now, or not?

This is the time to get building because of the availability of skilled labour, and building contract prices can be hammered because of the slump.

The Victorians would just have built the thing, years ago.

- Kate, London

Well take your pick Laura, cuts or large tax rises? Which is it to be? I for one support cuts in WASTE. I am still bemused by where the extra £260 billion labour raise in tax each year goes. I certainly do not see an 80% (when compared with 1997)improvement in services.

- Chris, Rochester

The £16bn Crossrail scheme is just another Government handout for the City and Canary Wharf so those Labour and Boris supporters who want it should pay for it. Boris the buffoon has nominated London's tube users to lose out on upgrades. On top of this tube users and taxpayers will have to pay for Crossrail, a rail scheme that replicates the existing central line. All of this benefits the City and Canary Wharf who have lost money and the idiot Boris has pretensions to run the country. his is one good reason to vote Boris out. Like his loser predecessor Ken Livingstone, he is a stupid Crossrail supporter. Simple if you think Crossrail is so essential, pay for it, most of us don't...

- Val Keller, London UK

To those of old enough to remember the last Conservative governments it will be no surprise to hear this type of proposal. The Thatcher and Major years were endless rounds of cuts in anything felt unnecessary. That's why there's been so much catch-up in investment in the Tube and railways in the last ten years. Please let's not return to this short-termism

- Richard, London

There was a recent report published called DISTRIBUTION OF CROSSRAIL BENEFITS.It gives a borough by borough analysis of the crossrail wider economic benefits.

http://www.crossrail.co.uk/pages/crossrailwidereconomicbenefits29.html

- Damien Vaugh, London,UK

A clear indication that David Cameron fails to understand the difference between Capital and Revenue expenditure. The fact is Crossrail is capital expenditure which is an investment in Londons' future and without it London will seize up and international business will move to cities like Brussels or Paris.


Much nonsense is talked about Crossrail when all it is a tunnel linking the lines into Paddington to those into Liverpool Street in the same way that Thameslink did between Farringdon and Blackfriars.

Crossrail will also SAVE money by allowing fewer trains to be needed as they wont need to stop at dead end stations in the centre of London.

Finally at a time of near zero inflation now is the time for capital projects like Crossrail given the way costs have risen in the past because of inflation.

David cameron needs to state now and put it in his manifesto that he wont build Crossrail in order that Londoners and business leaders know that he intends to destroy Londons future.

(P.S A seat for every commuter with NOGO BOJO and Deadend Dave you must be kidding.)

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

Tories will cancel it as you can't get your Rolls Royce to drive down the tunnels.

- Paul B, London

I was still at school when Crossrail was first proposed. By the time it's actually built and running I'll be retired. No wonder this country is going to the dogs.

- John, Biggleswade

Crossrail is essiential to both business and to move ever growing numbers of people around London, reducing congestion and pollution.

Already hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent aquiring sites and securing contracts. The compensation for breach of contract if crossrail is cancelled could be costly.

Last week the IMF issued a report urging countries to proceed with vital infrastructure.This syncronised recession (both at home and abroad) means that there is no possibility of either incresed spending from the consumer or imports. That only leaves public spending to power the economy and reduce the length of the recession.

Crossrail will leave London in better shape to do business, improve transport thats good for the environment and help tourism. Boris is right to insist that crossrail proceeds as planned.

- Damien Vaugh, London,UK

Get used to Tory cuts in transport, health and education.

- Laura, London

If this becomes Tory Party policy then it sure will bring more than one added advantage in four of D cameron. Boris Johnson has already made a ,mess of an already very crassly put together [no, cobbled together at inordinate cost to the public, as your p;aper reported in 2005-2006] scheme. Best ting that ANY genuinely democratic administration at the ULK centre can do in this and any other big infrastructure publicly paid for project is to get the economic case made before any legislative backing. No reliable compelling or foreseeable economic case exists for the costs or the devastations of Crossrail. Far less for the £Billions of debts.. In Parliament, they [The Tony Blair and then the Brown administration] put a permeant ban on the two ‘Crossrail Bill Select Committees’ [in the Commons] between january 2006 and December 2007 and then in the Lords] scrutinizing the costs or the compact on the economy or on the the environment or communities affected.

- Muhammad Haque, London London

Perhaps instead of the idiculous stop - starting of major investment projects, perhaps the Tories could instead try a novel strategic approach and reverse the sorry reputation the UK has for taking forward and then suddenly stopping these projects.

- Mike, london

Give everyone who needs Crossrail a bike to ride to work. No disruption during building, and a fitter healthier workforce at the end of it. Money saved to pay back Labour's debts. Easy.

- Susan, Hammersmith

It will be cancelled whoever is in power. There is no money left thanks to Ken Livingstone and New Labour.

- Frankie, London


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KHOODEELAAR! first comments on report that Hazel Blears is asserting need for equal role of law on Crossrail

0950 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 5 May 2009:

KHOODEELAAR! comment has been published on the Timesonline in the last 70 minutes. KHOODEELAAR! No to “Crossrail hole scam Big Business agenda” Campaign Organiser Muhamamd Haque comments on the constitutional, economic and political failings by Blair and Brown. That summary of the failings is to be followed up in updated commentaries to be published on the Khoodeelaar! websites later. Hazel Blears has now become the first minister in any of the recent UK cabinets to show any sense AT ALL about the CRASS Crossrail. If Blears keeps the trend up in any sustained and credible way and over any genuine length of time then she will, theoretically at least at this stage, be going places in British and UK politics. And that is a historic statement by Khoodeelaar! in the five years and 4 months of our campaigning commentary about ANY member of any party in any part of the UK Houses of Parliament. We suggest that ‘Hazel’ [!!!!!] does not squander this position statement that we have just made..She should also make it real when she says that the law should apply equally to all. A point that we shall be exploring further in the contextual analysis..


[To be continued]

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KHOODEELAAR! told you so. Crossrail is crass! Now EVEN Hazel Blears agrees! In a most backhandedly undeniable way

0115 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 5 May 2009:

"
From The Times
May 5, 2009
Hazel Blears at centre of row over £16 billion Crossrail project
Francis Elliott, Deputy Political Editor
Hazel Blears is at the centre of a Cabinet row over the future of the £16 billion London Crossrail project, The Times has learnt.
lous. He has no udneruanding of hsoitoryu. Anmd cointray to the image he ahs been peddling of hsepof as a 'scholar' of ancient [OOps! classic Greek and otehr lingistic tools] he is ignpoarnt of the messages and the im op
Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has agreed with Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, in preventing businesses from being given a vote on whether they should help to fund the controversial scheme.

But the Department of Communities and Local Government, run by Ms Blears, refuses to exempt Crossrail from a requirement to ballot companies if they are being asked to shoulder more than a third of a scheme’s cost.

Mr Johnson has committed £3.5 billion towards the cost of the new rail route linking Heathrow and Canary Wharf, pledging to raise the cash through an additional levy on business rates in the capital from next year.

RELATED LINKS
The battle for Labour's soul
Cabinet rounds on Hazel Blears
Business big shot: Crossrail chief Terry Morgan
He plans to take advantage of new legislation going through Parliament that would allow local authorities extra powers to raise tax.

Mr Johnson fears that opponents of Crossrail could start a legal challenge to force him to hold a vote in the absence of a formal exemption.

John Healey, a junior minister in Ms Blears’s department, has already rejected attempts to amend the law insisting: “I cannot accept . . . that there should be one rule for London and one rule for the rest of the country.” But an aide of Mr Johnson described persuading businesses in London to pay for Crossrail as “unwinnable” and said that Ms Blears’s intransigence risked throwing the scheme’s complex funding package into doubt.

A senior Whitehall official said that the mayor is being supported by Mr Darling and Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary, who are trying to force Ms Blears to back down. The row has increased from officials to ministers and is set for Cabinet confrontation, according to one observer.

“The fear is that unless there is a specific exemption then the rules as they apply to Crossrail could be subject to a judicial review,” an official said. “We accept the point that Boris, in the year before a mayoral election and just after a major recession, could not be expected to win a ballot of businesses on Crossrail.”

The scheme, which has been delayed, would give London a new east-west rail link, but has been identified as a possible cost-cutting target of a Conservative government. However, Mr Johnson’s attempts to win an exemption from a business ballot have been supported by Bob Neill, Mr Cameron’s shadow minister for local government.

Mr Johnson has defended the plan to raise business rates to meet the cost of Crossrail, claiming that firms stand to gain significantly from improved transport links. “Not only will it deliver jobs and growth in the short term, it will help to make our city far more liveable and more attractive as a place to come and invest,” he said.

“When this recession ends, as it surely will, Crossrail will make London a far better place to compete. This is one of those moments in politics when you reverse the usual rule and get in a hole — and keep on digging.”

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