Increasing council taxes to keep the Tube and buses running was downplayed by a minister today as the row over a £4.9 billion bailout being sought by Transport for London continued.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the Government was not “actively considering” imposing a surcharge to help plug the massive gap in TfL’s fares income caused by the pandemic.
Acrimony between City Hall and the Department for Transport intensified last night when Mayor Sadiq Khan accused Transport Secretary Grant Shapps of seeking to impose a “triple whammy”.
Leaked correspondence between Mr Khan and Mr Shapps reportedly showed the Government was ready to take direct control of TfL unless the Mayor agreed to higher council tax, a further increase on the above-inflation rise in fares planned for January, and an extension of the £15-a-day congestion charge zone to the North and South Circular roads to mirror widened ultra low emission zone boundaries being introduced next October. There was also an order for the Mayor to begin “pensions and workplace reform” at TfL and axe free travel for teenagers.
Today Mr Jenrick, asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari if a council tax precept would be imposed, said: “Well we aren’t actively considering that but we do have to resolve the fact that the Mayor has bankrupted TfL and the Greater London Authority due to a series of catastrophically bad financial decisions.”
Mr Khan hit back, saying: “Now is not the time for the Government to play party political games or be vindictive towards London – this is far too serious a matter.”
TfL received a £1.6 billion bailout in May and wants £2 billion more for the rest of the financial year, plus £2.9 billion for 2021/22. Negotiations have been extended. The TfL pension scheme is not under TfL control and new laws would be needed to amend it. Unions today said they would be willing to strike if pensions were at risk of being cut.
The Mayor said the “draconian” proposals would result in four million more people being covered by an enlarged C-zone, that fares would rise by more than the RPI+1 per cent agreed in the first bailout, and that the Government proposed removing free travel from over-sixties. He told the TfL board today that he had written to the PM last Friday “to ensure he was aware of the urgency of the situation”.