Work from home: Could coronavirus kill your commute? March 12, 2020 Next time you are sitting on the train, the bus, or the Tube, look around you. You will notice that the carriage is not as crowded as usual. If you are a clockwork commuter like me, you will notice that characters from your morning commute are no longer making their regular appearance. The chap with [...]
Level up: Boosting the regions might mean levelling down London March 12, 2020 Except for updates on the coronavirus, no ministerial appearance these days is complete without mention of the government’s professed intention to “level up”. This seems to mean a desire to do something — usually something to do with infrastructure spending — for the so-called “left-behind” places that voted Leave in 2016, and especially those “red [...]
EXCLUSIVE: London mayor hopeful Rory Stewart pledges to fund Hammersmith Bridge repairs March 11, 2020 Rory Stewart will guarantee funding for the £95m Hammersmith Bridge repairs if elected mayor. The independent candidate today pledged to underwrite the cost of repairing the bridge in his first week in office from Transport for London’s (TfL) capital account. A bid for government funding has been lodged with the Department for Transport (DfT). However, [...]
Number of UK coronavirus cases record biggest daily jump to 456 March 11, 2020 The number of UK coronavirus cases leapt by 83 today to a total of 456 Covid-19 infections, the Department of Health said today. Today’s rise marks a significant increase in the UK’s daily reported number of cases. Public Health England recorded 54 new cases yesterday morning, and 46 new cases on Monday morning. Doctors have [...]
Mayoral candidate Rory Stewart accused of ‘sensationalising’ coronavirus March 11, 2020 Mayoral candidate Rory Stewart has been accused of sensationalising the UK’s coronavirus outbreak. Conservative MP Steve Baker lashed out at Stewart, a former Tory cabinet secretary, on Twitter today for his calls to immediately shut all schools and limit public gatherings. The UK’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty has said these measures are not necessary. [...]
Silvertown Tunnel contract costs increase by £200m March 11, 2020 The cost outlay for the controversial Silvertown Tunnel appears to have risen by £200m to £1.2bn. Transport for London (TfL) last night publicly released the contract it had finalised with the Riverlinx Consortium in November. The twin bore road tunnel, which is opposed by many environmental groups and local councils, will connect Greenwich with the Docklands [...]
Police watchdog probe into Johnson and Arcuri not expected before May March 10, 2020 A police watchdog report into Boris Johnson’s relationship with US businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri is now not expected until May at the earliest. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is probing Johnson’s relationship with Arcuri to see if the Prime Minister could have engaged in criminal misconduct when he was mayor of London. The police [...]
Coronavirus: Rory Stewart cancels London mayoral campaign launch March 10, 2020 Rory Stewart has cancelled his London mayoral campaign launch due to fears over coronavirus. Stewart yesterday criticised the government for not acting “much more aggressively” to stop the spread of Covid-19 and called for all schools to to be closed and all large public gatherings cancelled immediately. Last night, he said it was important for [...]
Sadiq Khan on track for landslide London mayoral election win, says new poll March 10, 2020 Sadiq Khan has extended his lead in the mayoral election race and is on track to score an easy victory, according to new polling. The YouGov/Queen Mary University polling, released today, has Khan in first place with 49 per cent of first preference votes for the upcoming 7 May London mayor election. That is four [...]
SME group calls for next London mayor to lobby for business rates reform March 10, 2020 The next mayor of London should focus their energies on improving renting conditions for businesses and lobbying the Treasury for rates reform, according to a leading business advocacy group. The Federation of Small Business’ (FSB) mayoral manifesto, released today, calls on the next mayor to pressure “major landowners” to sign on to a “supportive small [...]
