Reply to comment

London Mayor Boris Johnson delivered an impromptu speech in the Moments coffee bar in West Hampstead this morning (Friday). This is what he said:
“I'm going to tell you what we need to do in this country to sort out the mess we are in. What we need to do is focus on cutting the waste, cutting the inessential things and directing the spending on things that really matter. We've had serious savings at City Hall, 180 people have gone. We've had a 50 percent cut in the number of deputy Mayors alone, gone back from whence they came. We have cut 30 percent in the number of heads in the London Development Agency, we are cutting £5 billion in the budget of Transport for London over the next few years and we have got rid of something called The Londoner newspaper, the ludicrous, communist free newspaper that we used to get: we've got rid of that. We've got rid of the subsidy for the European Space Station and all the nonsense that used to knock around – and we are putting the money into things that matter in London, like fighting crime. We have by one elementary move we have managed to double the number of police patrols on the streets by saying police officers don't have to go around in pairs. We have cut bus crime – we have a real issue there. You can now use your freedom pass for 24 hours, you're all too young and thrusting to use that. By putting more people in uniform on buses than at anytime in the last 30 years, sometimes there are so many crime fighters in high-vis jackets it's hard to get on them, we have driven down bus crime by 18 percent. What you need to do is when you make these savings, is take the money away from the pointless expenditure and the things that matter. I noticed that I have received a petition against Jubilee Line closures when I arrived today by bicycle. I understand your pain. All I can say is that absolutely vital that we make sure that we keep up the investment in London's transport infrastructure. You can cut the budgets of TfL, you can get rid of ludicrous, communist freesheet newspapers but you can't cut investment to London's infrastructure. I'm thinking of Crossrail. I'm thinking of the Jubilee Line. I know how inconvenient it is at the moment but that Jubilee Line, when it is completed, will have a 30 percent increase in its capacity. It will be a substantially better service. I also want to congratulate Chris Philp, your candidate here. He has campaigned to keep the police stations open. He will be a redoubtable and effective Member of Parliament. I will ask him to join me and to join you to campaign for a fair share for London. London is the motor for the UK economy. Whatever happens, when Chris ousts Glenda Jackson, when you are sitting there on the green benches, I want you to make sure that a Conservative government delivers the investment that London needs. That's the best way of safeguarding the future of the UK economy. Cutting waste, directing expenditure to big infrastructure projects that will deliver growth, jobs and long term prosperity. Thank you very much West Hampstead."