1328 [1315] [1312] Hrs GMT
London
Friday
30 April 2010.
Editor © Muhammad Haque.
More power for the mayor! Really, Boris!
Whatever for?
What power haven’t you got that would transform you from being all over the place to a competent, dutiful, honest and accountable representative for all the people in London?
You can’t say anything.
Why?
Because you have not delivered on most of your promises and you have not accounted for the powers that you do have.
What about showing some real genuine honest respect for the people of London and actually answering questions that are raised by the London Assembly?
In fact why not go one better and actually answer questions that people of London have been putting to you for the past two years?
How about making a start and showing the evidence that on objective criteria and standards justifies £Billions being pout into Crossrail while starving the various parts of the Lon don underground of urgent funds that they need and have needed for years?
[To be continued]
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Boris Johnson is set to be handed sweeping powers if the Tories win the general election, the Standard has learned.
His new remit would put him on course to be the world's second most powerful mayor after New York's Michael Bloomberg.
Mr Johnson could be the beneficiary of the biggest devolution of power to the capital since the Greater London Authority was created a decade ago.
The Mayor would be responsible for a £16 billion budget for areas including the capital's transport network, policing and economic regeneration. He would also take control of housing, the Olympic legacy, the Thames and the Royal Parks from central government.
Mr Bloomberg has a £33 billion budget and runs all New York's public services while the Mayor of Paris, Bernard Delanoe, has powers over transport, planning, housing and primary schools with a budget of £6 billion.
The policy paper proposals could be in David Cameron's first Queen's Speech as part of a devolution Bill, which might also hand more power to Scotland and Wales.
Tory policy chief Oliver Letwin and Mr Johnson's head of policy Anthony Browne have spent months thrashing out the details, which have now been signed off by the
party leader.
party leader.
The plans are at an early stage and could eventually include replacing theMetropolitan Police Authority with an executive reporting directly to the Mayor and scrutiny by the London Assembly. The new powers would significantly impact upon Londoners but were not included in the Tory manifesto. Former mayor Ken Livingstone today welcomed the proposals but said the Tories should have gone further by devolving financial powers.
He said: “Clearly any devolution of more powers to the Mayor is welcome. But unless the Mayor has some independence financially they're still really in hock to the Government as that's where the majority of the Mayor's budget comes from.
“It's sad that they haven't given the Mayor power to run recycling because London has the worst record in Britain.”
Mr Johnson would face the prospect of deep cuts in his new transport and housing budgets as a future Tory government struggled to reduce the deficit.
Tony Blair first devolved power to London in 2000 when he set up the GLA and Mr Livingstone was elected.
Commentators felt he would have handed over additional responsibilities if he had more faith in the first occupant of City Hall. Mr Johnson was elected with more than one million votes, the largest personal mandate of any politician in British history.
Shadow London minister Justine Greening said: “An important part of our Big Societyagenda is to give more power to locally-elected representatives of the people. So we have been discussing very carefully with the Mayor's office what additional powers could usefully be transferred from central government to the Mayor.
This paper is the product of these discussions and will be implemented by a Conservative government.” The Tories have said they would abolish the Government Office for London, currently headed by Tessa Jowell.