Rebel Tory MPs were on Monday urged to come to the aid of Transport for London as efforts to secure a final £900 million in government funding went down to the wire.
MayorSadiq Khan wrote to four London MPs, who were thought to have voted against Boris Johnson in last week’s confidence vote, urging them to now speak out on “government attacks on London”.
TfL is seeking about £900 million in revenue support to replace the anticipated fares shortfall for the remainder of the current financial year, plus a long-term deal on capital investment to repair and modernise the network.
Two weeks ago it unveiled plans to make changes to 78 bus routes, including potentially axing 16. TfL has received about £5 billion in pandemic-related bailouts but its current deal expires on June 24.
The MPs being targeted were Sir Bob Neill, Stephen Hammond, Elliot Colburn and David Simmonds. Mr Khan asked them to lobby the Prime Minister and Transport Secretary.
All made clear their lack of confidence in Mr Johnson ahead of last week’s secret vote.
In the letter, which was also signed by Green and Lib-Dem politicians at City Hall, Mr Khan asked them to lobby the Prime Minister and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to “stop punishing Londoners and provide the long-term funding deal your constituents need”.
But Sir Bob, the MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, said that the mayor was “playing politics”.
He told the Standard: “It’s a totally cynical bit of playing politics - just another one of Sadiq’s attempts to pass the buck for his mismanagement of TfL’s finances, just repackaged to be hitched to a fresh bandwagon.”
Previous bailouts have required TfL to reduce the size of the bus network, which continues to operate at 10 per cent below pre-lockdown capacity. The Government says decisions on bus routes are for the mayor to determine.
It came as RMT general secretary Mick Lynch declined to rule out a national strike involving multiple unions seeking to secure pay rises and job security for their members.
Ahead of three separate days of rail strikes next week, which begin next Tuesday at the same time as another Tube strike, Mr Lynch compared the situation with the airport chaos seen over the half-term holidays, which he blamed on airlines taking a “short-sited view” on retaining staff.
Asked on LBC radio about the possibility of a national strike, Mr Lynch said: “I’m not saying it won’t take place but it needs some co-ordination.
“It would make sense for workers to leverage their power in any campaign. The UK workers need a pay rise. They have not had one for a considerable time.”
