Arab Revolutionaries during Murad's recent trip to Tunisia - unwittingly helping out the Mayor of London

As long as the turmoil continues in the Middle East, the Mayor of London will reap the benefits and the Arab revolutionaries continue to unwittingly help the Mayor out in his last year before the Mayoral contest in May 2012.

The biggest losers continue to be the poor travelling public who under the current administration look set to continue paying through the nose for a service bursting at the seams.

The headline of the latest column of the Mayor of London in the Daily Telegraph screams out to us his objections to the alternative vote (AV), suggesting its all a huge fraud. Well given he acknowledges he’s elected as Mayor via AV, and using his same arguments it must imply he himself is a fraud as well!

What it does clearly imply is he is not interested in the second preference votes in the forthcoming contest in 2012. That will be news to Lynton Crosby and co who during the London Tory Party conference this past Saturday discussed Election Strategy for 2012 and how the Tories can obtain Lib Dem second preference! If  Mr Johnson thinks he win that contest without at least courting Londoners second preferences, then he’s clearly in cloud cuckoo land.  

I say, if it’s good enough to elect a Mayor of London why not use it to elect our members of the parliament in London and the rest of the country.

Finally, the Mayor clearly doesn’t know how he gets elected. The supplementary vote (SV) in the London Mayoral contest gives you a second vote and not a ranking of all candidates which is the Alternative Vote (AV), though its still a variant of AV.

In Tunisia, it was heartening to see people lose their fear of the police state that controlled their life’s for far to long.  All of course triggered by the self-immolation of Muhammad Bonazizi in Siddi Bouzi, in response to being bullied by officials and lack of work for himself as a fruit seller. So far most of the protestations have been secular in nature, though many have attempted to paint it all religiously. The crowds who are still up against the military, were largely good-natured, nationalistic and hopeful.  Not surprising really as it was there own liberation that was primary in their minds rather then levelling any hatred against other states or people.  On my last night in Tunis, the Kasbah rocked to the news that another regime was about it fall amongst the Arab regimes when it heard that Gadaffi was on the run shouting out “ three down, more to go”

We should not forget that these have been secular dictatorships committing many of these political and human rights abuses, which Arabs have risen against, long before they aligned themselves with the war on terror. At a very emotional rally of Liberte Equite in Tunis, we saw many of the families who have had members of their family disappear over the years still grieving for them. We also heard instances of mindless abuse. One of the worst cases of abuses we came across was with a blind gentlemen called Fathi Messaoudi and his family who himself had been chased out the country and his family harassed throughout his absense. Unfortunately there is clear evidence that the British authorities did not help the situation when he came to our shores.

Yet while the dictators have fallen, the dictatorships are still largely intact.  Take for example, Egypt. Whilst Mubarak may not be on the scene, it’s the military council that has taken over with a new president Omar Sulieman with a dubious past, who are charged with running presidential election in the near future and negotiating with the opposition.  The situation though in Tunisia is better, with an amnesty for political prisoners; freedom to assembly and form political groupings yet we still have a void that needs to be filled, as constitutional changes are also being considered.  Many of the political parties are still bewildered at the pace that things have changed and have yet to put their stalls out to the electorate, though this has not stop more then 35 political parties setting up.

A meeting of the Arab league today will look terribly bare now without three autocratic leaders in their long held seats gone. And with the distinct possibility of more following them, adding to the emptiness. So far we have only had Arab republics fall and not yet any Arab monarchies. They fellow Arabs encouragingly shouted in the Kasbah, its “over to you now in Bahrain”, as Tunisian proudly lead the way after beginning it all across the Arab world. For myself, it was good to see at first hand the Arab awakening.

Interestingly the Economist this week has commented on some new and emerging communities in London that l have certainly noticed in my neighbourhood, the French and Arabs.

The former have not been picked up by the public authorities though clearly exist as EU citizens can move into the UK without registering with the authorities.  While the latter were certainly around at the time of the last Census in 2001 but were not picked up at all. This is not surprising as many of them will have been fleeing police states in the Middle East, where it would be considered very suspicious to give such details to a public authority even though it was something like the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was a particular problem in boroughs like the City of Westminster in London, which in large part explained the under reporting of the numbers through the Census in 2001 going by other indicators. 

Lets just hope such under reporting does not occur with these emerging diaspora communities as well as any others coming through in this years Census. Otherwise London will go without critical resources for all its residents and not just the new ones.

At the last GLA elections in 2008, all the Mayoral candidates and major political grouping were against the expansion of Heathrow airport with a third runway ( that includes the Labour group going against their Party Policy nationally ). With the Mayors launch last month of the first part of his report for a new airport for London, arguing for new capacity, it will be very different in the next GLA elections in 2012.

 Within a matter of days after his report launched, we have the City of London Corporation releasing their own report suggesting that you could expand Heathrow by changing the landing practises at the airport by stopping the need to have landings and take-off alternated from either of the two runway but have both happening on the same runway. This could overnight increase flights movements by almost another 50,000 annually.  In the meantime, we had a HACAN commissioned report by Delft called a “Ban on night flights at Heathrow airport”  valuing the price of a decent nights sleep for all Londoners particularly around the noise contours surrounding Heathrow at £ 860 million annually, illustrating well the benefits of not having nights flights into the airport.

So it is clear that the report has opened up old debates and that many may of thought had been closed down around Heathrow.  On top of this the Mayor supported the expansion of the only other active commercial airport in Greater London, City airport from 80,000 flights to 120,000 since being in office within his planning powers. He of course denies this, though correspondence exists to illustrate this well.

The second part of his report will indicate where this second hub for London should be, including still considering the Thames Estuary site.  This when the first part of the report established his case for another 564,000 annual air traffic movements and that this growth could be accommodated within the overall challenge of reducing transports contribution to climate change and more localised environmental impacts! In the meantime, leading lights in the aviation field, have suggested this strategy could threaten jobs in and around Heathrow. 

At the session at Progressive London during the morning of the 19^th called “ Grounded – the future alternatives to airport expansion “  we brought leading activists and groups like HACAN, NoTRAG and Fighttheflights on this issue to hopefully establish both a position and a strategy which grounds the Mayors expansion plans across London.

I could be forgiven for thinking that the Boris Johnson who writes for the Daily Telegraph is not the same man who runs London. Already this year, he has written two columns articulating a very different view from his actual policies.
Boris’ columns are composed in his instantly recognisable prose and have a touch of the Jeremy Clarkson style about appeal about them. However, unlike other columnists, Boris is in the privileged hot seat of London Mayor and welds real power. Therefore, he should display the courage of his convictions and put into action what he advocates.
The first Johnson anomaly was after his recent family trip to India. He wrote about the cost to the British economy of failing to harness economic opportunities from emerging markets such as India and China. Boris used the onion shortage crisis in India as a hook to make a more general point about Britain’s (and by default London’s) failure to capitalise these opportunities. He asked: “Why the hell don’t British contractors and consultants get on out and pitch for projects like building a tube network in Mumbai?”
Unfortunately, Boris does not really know his onions. As Mayor, he took the decision to close the offices London Development Authority offices in both Mumbai and Delhi. These were established by his Labour predecessor, Ken Livingstone. It is a bit rich for the Tory Mayor now to be calling for someone, somewhere to do something. Who better than the Mayor of London? In fact, Boris denounced the overseas offices as a waste of money, referring to them as “embassies” during the 2008 mayoral contest. Yes, the economies of China, India and Brazil are seen as the engine of global growth. Yes, Britain is losing out, but Boris seems to have forgotten who runs the economic hub of this country.
The second anomaly arose over the congestion charge. During the 2008 mayoral election campaign, Boris assured Londoners that he would not increase this above £8. In December last year, he increased the charge by 25 per cent to £10 (£9 with auto pay).
Yet he made a clear and unequivocal commitment during a televised debate. His exact words were that he  “would certainly not allow the congestion charge to go up above £8 which the [previous] Mayor promised not to let happen before and then broke his promise as usual”.  His response when I asked him about his own broken promise at the last Mayor’s question time was: “I can’t remember”.
Curiously, though, Boris was moaning about soaring fuel prices in a recent Telegraph column. He expresses horror at the £80.54 cost to him of putting petrol in his car and called on his Government to address the plight of the poor motorists. What about the poor motorist who voted for him because of his promise of keeping the congestion charge at its then current level of £8? Since Boris has the power to help motorists, he doesn’t need to call on anyone else to this for him.
Can the Mayor really be so oblivious to the gap between what he writes about and his actions as Mayor? Or is it just that we have a part-time Mayor running London? The capital needs a full-time Mayor whose actions speak as loud as his words. The sooner Londoners realise this before May 2012, the better.

Murad Qureshi is a Labour member of the London Assembly

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Len McCluskey, leader of Britain’s biggest union, Unite, is among the latest to sign the petition opposing David Cameron’s atack on multiculturalism.

He is joined by MP John McDonnell, Aaron Porter president of the NUS, TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty, Dilowar Khan, the executive director of East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre and London Assembly member Murad Qureshi, along with local councillors, campaigners, artists and thousands of others.

The petition was launched after Cameron’s attack on multiculturalism and Britain’s Muslims sparked outrage.

>> Add your name and pass on this link http://is.gd/multicultural

>> Download a print version to take round your friends and workmates

Help raise money for advert

The petition organisers want to raise £8,000 for a half-page advert in the Guardian to show Cameron the strength and breadth of opposition to his attack.

The advert will cost £8,000. Can you spare £5, £10, £50 – or even £500? Any donation big or small will help. Please use the PayPal button below – you can use it to donate with your debit or credit card if you don’t have a PayPal account. Thanks for your support!

Len McCluskey general secretary Unite the Union, Aaron Porter president NUS, John McDonnell MP, Cllr George Barratt London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Gerry Doherty general secretary TSSA, Dilowar Khan executive Director East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre, Saqib Deshmukh Justice for Paps campaign, Murad Qureshi London Assembly Member, Cllr Peter O’Neill Kirklees, John Griffiths Welsh Assembly Member, Helen Mary Jones Welsh Assembly Member and deputy leader Plaid Cymru, Cllr Obajimi Adefiranye London Borough of Lewisham, Cllr Michael Lavalette Preston City Council, John Boocock chair Kilmuir and Logie Easter Community Council, Cllr Adam Pogonowski Cambridge, Tony Harrison secretary Oldham NUT, Geoff Brown secretary Manchester Trades Union Council, Ismail Patel Viva Palestina Midlands Humanitarian Aid Convoy, Hugh Lanning deputy general secretary PCS, Terry Conway co-chair Greater London UNISON LGBT group, Brian Candeland chair Manchester Green Party, Stuart Jeffery chair Kent Green Party, Sarah Ensor manager Bookmarks socialist bookshop, Diana Neslen Redbridge and Epping Forest Together, Josh Hollands Love Music Hate Homophobia, Susie Bolchover founder Greater Manchester Black and Jewish Forum, Ali Ahmed chair Cardiff Bengali Association, Andy Richards Wales regional secretary Unite the Union, Patrick Ulysses TCAR (Tyneside community action against racism) Vicki Baars NUS NEC

The mayor presented his draft �13.6 billion budget to the London Assembly this week saying he could fund "more uniformed fully warranted police officers than ever before" despite government grants to London being cut by �618 billion. But official police figures show that officer numbers have fallen from 33,238 last February to 32,502.

The mayor says that under his budget there will be 32,510 officers by 2012. But by 2013/14 numbers are expected to fall to 31,800 – almost 1,500 down from their 2010 high.

�         The number of local neighbourhood sergeants will be cut by 100 this year and then halved, from 630 to 330, in the next two years. While each and every ward in Westminster is currently served by a minimum of three community support officers, two constables and one sergeant, the mayor admitted this week that ‘smaller’ or supposedly safer wards could be merged. He said this despite a review into neighbourhood policing which has yet to recommend any changes.

Local Assembly member, Murad Qureshi, said: "The figures are clear, police numbers are falling despite the mayor opening up recruitment. You can’t cut half a billion from our budget and protect front line services – the sums just don’t add up. 

"Survey after survey shows that crime and safety are top concerns for Londoners yet because of the cuts of this mayor and government we’re losing uniformed officers from the front line and this will make us all feel less safe." 

Boris Johnson’s budget also cuts the number of police community support officers in London by almost 800 – 900 by 2013/14 – and the number of traffic wardens by 96 per cent this year.

All 102 police community support officer posts currently part of the Met’s safer schools teams are being lost. Although extra police officers will be assigned to the teams.

Boris Johnson said this week, "At a time of huge financial pressure we�re able to deploy another 500-odd frontline officers and actually increase the number of warranted officers at a time of huge budget cuts across the country. It shows what you can do if you cut the things that can be cut" (BBC Radio 4, World at One, 10 February).

Ends

Notes

Murad Qureshi is a London wide Labour Assembly member and a former Councillor in Westminster.

The London Assembly this week (Thursday 10 February) said the mayor’s budget "failed to address three concerns for Londoners on policing, sustained investment and environmental problems". The Assembly urged the mayor to put more money into neighbourhood policing. A webcast of the meeting can be viewed here.

Read the mayor’s draft budget here http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/greater-london-authority/budget-2011-12

For further information please contact Alison Marcroft on 020 7983 4363

Boris’s latest Daily Telegraph offering (9^th Jan “Let’s show booming India that we know our onions”) made eye wateringly painful reading for those of us in the know about his policy on GLA offices abroad. 

The Mayor writes about a recent trip to India which he again made reference to at a Local Government dinner at Mansion House last night (13 January).  In his article, he makes reference to the “awesome Indian economic landscape”, which he helpfully points out, is so vast that it’s enough to make us British “positively jealous”.  He also flags up “signs of money cascading” and a rising middle class of 400 million people with a further 700 million hankering after the usual and unrelenting barrage of capitalist consumer goods and services we take for granted.

How refreshing, to hear such data, after, we’ve been worn down with a plethora of talk and reports about recession, falling demand and rising costs over the last few years.  Yet, if the current Mayor shared the same aforethought and insight as the previous Mayor, then perhaps London could have played a bigger role towards dampening the economic strain of the last few years.

Although I must commend Boris’s insight into Indian culture and cuisine, (I guess in part due to family ties), his cultural appreciation is greatly undermined by his failure to deliver on his own notion that we " lasso [the] rampaging Indian bullock and get some more traction for Britain" .  He’s skilfully managed to break ranks with his own idea of what is right for the British and indeed the London economy by closing the GLA offices in both Mumbai & Delhi.  Therefore, it’s a bit rich for him now to advocate something which he initially rejected as a waste, derogatorily referring to them as "embassies" in the past.  Even after he got into office, he had to be persuaded by London business to maintain them; however, he eventually and quietly mothballed them by gradually failing to recruit new staff when staff left the offices

The Mayor set up a review of the GLA’s overseas offices in 2008 and it reported its findings in January of the following year. Headed by the Mayor’s then deputy Ian Clement, the review concluded that there was no case for closing these offices finding that “the rationale for London to have offices in key emerging markets is fundamentally sound” and that they ‘do play an important role in promoting London’s interests, from supporting the capital’s businesses to enhancing the image of our city around the world’.

In a submission to the GLA review, the London of Chamber of Commerce stated

“Closing the offices in India and China as part of a cost-cutting exercise would be short-sighted and send entirely the wrong signals to potential investors and importers in two of London’s most important potential markets. The GLA may save £1 million, but it is London firms that may ultimately end up paying a much higher price. If the Mayor is not out there promoting London, someone else will be promoting New York, Paris, or Sydney instead.”

Past warnings of this clarity make uncomfortable reading while it’s recently emerged that only 7% of UK exports go to China, India and Brazil.  These are the economies seen as the locomotive of global growth.  Developing economies like India’s have grown in global importance due to their having escaped the worst consequences of the recession.  It’s therefore vital that London’s businesses are properly represented there.   Boris has succinctly managed to illustrate the consequences of his decision to close these offices with the use of his onion analogy.  It also illustrates the foresight of Ken’s regime which established these hubs based upon an economic health warning that without them, we would suffer lost opportunities.

So whilst the Mayor shouts out “why the hell don’t British contractors and consultants get on out and pitch” for projects like,  building a tube network in Mumbai, so too, should we shout back to him; “as London Mayor, why have you not sent anyone out there to harness these opportunities and deliver benefits to London and the UK?”

I guess the short answer is, it takes a cook to know their onions but it takes a great chef to know how to cook them.  Perhaps Boris needs some lessons!

Boris’s latest Daily Telegraph offering (9^th Jan “Let’s show booming India that we know our onions”) made eye wateringly painful reading for those of us in the know about his policy on GLA offices abroad. 

The Mayor writes about a recent trip to India which he again made reference to at a Local Government dinner at Mansion House last night (13 January).  In his article, he makes reference to the “awesome Indian economic landscape”, which he helpfully points out, is so vast that it’s enough to make us British “positively jealous”.  He also flags up “signs of money cascading” and a rising middle class of 400 million people with a further 700 million hankering after the usual and unrelenting barrage of capitalist consumer goods and services we take for granted.

How refreshing, to hear such data, after, we’ve been worn down with a plethora of talk and reports about recession, falling demand and rising costs over the last few years.  Yet, if the current Mayor shared the same aforethought and insight as the previous Mayor, then perhaps London could have played a bigger role towards dampening the economic strain of the last few years.

Although I must commend Boris’s insight into Indian culture and cuisine, (I guess in part due to family ties), his cultural appreciation is greatly undermined by his failure to deliver on his own notion that we " lasso [the] rampaging Indian bullock and get some more traction for Britain" .  He’s skilfully managed to break ranks with his own idea of what is right for the British and indeed the London economy by closing the GLA offices in both Mumbai & Delhi.  Therefore, it’s a bit rich for him now to advocate something which he initially rejected as a waste, derogatorily referring to them as "embassies" in the past.  Even after he got into office, he had to be persuaded by London business to maintain them; however, he eventually and quietly mothballed them by gradually failing to recruit new staff when staff left the offices

The Mayor set up a review of the GLA’s overseas offices in 2008 and it reported its findings in January of the following year. Headed by the Mayor’s then deputy Ian Clement, the review concluded that there was no case for closing these offices finding that “the rationale for London to have offices in key emerging markets is fundamentally sound” and that they ‘do play an important role in promoting London’s interests, from supporting the capital’s businesses to enhancing the image of our city around the world’.

In a submission to the GLA review, the London of Chamber of Commerce stated

“Closing the offices in India and China as part of a cost-cutting exercise would be short-sighted and send entirely the wrong signals to potential investors and importers in two of London’s most important potential markets. The GLA may save £1 million, but it is London firms that may ultimately end up paying a much higher price. If the Mayor is not out there promoting London, someone else will be promoting New York, Paris, or Sydney instead.”

Past warnings of this clarity make uncomfortable reading while it’s recently emerged that only 7% of UK exports go to China, India and Brazil.  These are the economies seen as the locomotive of global growth.  Developing economies like India’s have grown in global importance due to their having escaped the worst consequences of the recession.  It’s therefore vital that London’s businesses are properly represented there.   Boris has succinctly managed to illustrate the consequences of his decision to close these offices with the use of his onion analogy.  It also illustrates the foresight of Ken’s regime which established these hubs based upon an economic health warning that without them, we would suffer lost opportunities.

So whilst the Mayor shouts out “why the hell don’t British contractors and consultants get on out and pitch” for projects like,  building a tube network in Mumbai, so too, should we shout back to him; “as London Mayor, why have you not sent anyone out there to harness these opportunities and deliver benefits to London and the UK?”

I guess the short answer is, it takes a cook to know their onions but it takes a great chef to know how to cook them.  Perhaps Boris needs some lessons!

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