London
Friday 30 April 2010.
Editor © Muhammad Haque.
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[To be continued]
Boris Johnson to get 'superpowers' if Tories win election
Pippa Crerar, City Hall Editor
30.04.10
TV: Brown vows to fight on as Cameron claims debate victory
The Mayor's new powers
The Mayor's existing powers
Commentary: Cameron shows he has an eye on the long game
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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.
The Mayor's new powers
The Mayor's existing powers
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.
The plans are at an early stage and could eventually include replacing the Metropolitan 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 Society agenda 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.
Also on this topic
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This isn't 'fairness' - it's Labour's class war by stealth
London suffers second blow to global status
Opposition blasts Boris for ‘broken promises to voters’
Boris blocked from chairing arts interviews
Reader views (14) Add your view
@ Nikki, London
RE: Mad cows!
Yeah I do remember the low points of the Tories way back in the 80s, I also remember the many low points of Labour before that; but more relevantly the many Labour low points far more recently. ie: the last 13 years.
- Frank, Home Counties, England, 30/04/2010 15:33
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Mick
Absence makes the memory grow fonder. Unfortunately I remember the old situation before BT when the nationalised industries cost us a fortune and you had to wait 6 or 12 months to get a phone installed unless you bribed the telephone engineers in which case the phone was installed later that day.
- Stephen C, London, 30/04/2010 15:21
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so that's it Mick,
you claim it was revenge on Ken because the right decision was made?
what a peculiar and oddly irrelevant point of view.
- scotty, london, 30/04/2010 14:46
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Will the superpowers include X-ray vision and the ability to fly?
- ForFS, London England, 30/04/2010 14:05
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I am willing to stand for Mayor of London.
My first agenda will be; to take control of all utility company supplies to the people of London; in the London Area; and resupply utility services to all the people of London; on a non- profit bases etc; this will mean cheap power supplies as a service to Londoners.
When you think of all the possibilities of the power the Mayor could wield for Londoners; the sky is the limit.
Vote for me; and I will get you all cheap gas, electric, and phones, at no cost to the taxpayer at all.
Over to you Boris; match that if you can?
- mickinlondon, london, 30/04/2010 13:46
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Revenge on Red Ken? Is that what you call dismantling a fraught and corrupt institution?
C'mon Mick, Red Ken got the bullet for reasons of natural justice not revenge.
Revenge? I'm still trying to digest that most fanciful of lies with no end in sight.
- scotty, london, 30/04/2010 12:12
I point out, Scotty; that the GLC under Ken Livingstone was the same corrupt institution [your words] as that same institution that was run prior to Red Ken, by Sir Desmond Plummer and Sir Horace Walter Cutler etc.
Thatcher was pro GLC then?
So Red Ken was a victim of the Iron Cow, or was it the Iron Maiden, a form of torture machine in old England’s Castles of the realm; which-ever one you chose the result is the same in my opinion.
Like your good self; I am trying to digest the truth, with no end to the lies in sight?
Happy May day; Scotty....from Harold Wilson?
- mickinlondon, london, 30/04/2010 13:28
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Good news lets also have all the tax money that is collected from people working in London, staying in London. Can you imagine the furore, one suspects most of the country would be in penury without us generous Londoners.
- Leonard Lillywhites, Tottenham, 30/04/2010 13:27
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I'd be more impressed if he wasn't a cyclist.
- BJ, East London, 30/04/2010 13:19
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My concern is that we will suffer from a lack of local consultation before implementation of plans if Boris becomes a Super Mayor.
- Linda, London, 30/04/2010 13:05
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Tories....remember...CJD mad cow disease where they took the decisions in 'good faith' and poisoned the people.....and why dont they bring back ...Dame Shirley Porter? She'd be great at helping Boris + David.
- Nikki, London, 30/04/2010 13:04
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More power for Boris if you vote Tory?
*votes Lib Dem*. Better safe than sorry, I can't think of much worse than Boris putting even more clowns or crooks or Policy Exchange hard-rightwingers like Browne in charge of bits of London's government than he has already.
- Tom, London, UK, 30/04/2010 12:19
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Revenge on Red Ken? is that what you call dismantling a fraught and corrupt institution?
C'mon Mick, Red Ken got the bullet for reasons of natural justice not revenge.
Revenge? I'm still trying to digest that most fanciful of lies with no end in sight.
- scotty, london, 30/04/2010 12:12
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So; we will end up with the same old GLC that Thatcher destroyed for political revenge against Red Ken for not liking her?
Let's hope the Tories continue to undo all the damage and destruction Thatcher caused, and take back all the utility companies that once belonged to the people of the UK, which Thatcher sold off cheap as well.
Mind you; Tony Blair should have done all that 13 years ago?
But better late than never.
- mickinlondon, london, 30/04/2010 11:57
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Any chance of me voteing Conservatives is now out of the question.Boris will add another 20% Tax on public transport,give all illegal immigrants the right to stay and became British.
- dave, london, 30/04/2010 11:49
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