Mayor and Assembly members call on Darling to plug PPP ‘black hole’

Boris Johnson has written to Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, requesting that the Government ensure Londoners are not shortchanged after PPP Arbiter Chris Bolt determined that maintenance work to be carried out by Lines could cost more than £1b above the funds allocated by Government. Under the PPP scheme, which was opposed by most parties standing at the 2000 GLA elections, maintenance of the tube network became he responsibility of two companies, Metronet, which collapsed last year and had to be rescued by the taxpayer, and Tube Lines which has responsibility for Piccadilly, Victoria and Jubilee lines. In this letter Mayor Johnson warned: “London is the powerhouse of the UK economy, and without the transport improvements to match we are in danger of losing our competitive edge to other major cities across the... [read full story]