Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has been criticised for an attack he made on the management of London Underground.
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Hamwee, chair of the London Assembly, said Livingstone was wrong to refer to them as “dullards”, and his views could only weaken staff morale at a time of great uncertainty.
She spoke out during a Lords debate on the future of the Tube and the row over the Government’s preferred option of a public-private partnership to finance it.
Lady Hamwee said: “None of this will get any better until the future is settled and I’m not 100% supportive of the Mayor in all this. I have been critical of him for his attacks on the Underground management.
“His calling of them as ‘dullards’ as he did and no doubt other things, had the inevitable, perhaps intended effect of a number of the most senior management leaving and a number of vacant posts not being filled.”
Labour peer Lord Elder complained about the protests over financing. He said it was ironic that the debate was taking place when the Labour Government was prepared to talk about spending the sort of money that should have been put into the Tube over the last 50 years.
“I have used the Tube for the last 30 years and I have a vested interest in getting the system back to one that is comparable with those in overseas capitals, some of them quite old.”
Tory former Transport Minister Lord Peyton of Yeovil, opening the debate, said the Treasury had always “shuddered” at the thought of railways. He spoke of its contempt for managers, starved of resources but facing insoluble problems.
Labour peer Lord Faulkner of Worcester said the Underground’s major problem had been substantial underfunding. Projects were “often late and suffer huge cost over-runs,” he said.
The Jubilee Line had been two years late and was still not running at full capacity despite a cost over-run of £1.4m.
Viscount Astor, for the Tories, said the public-private partnership policy had been forced onto the Transport Department by the Treasury because the Chancellor would do “almost anything to get spending off his books – even if it means a greater cost to the taxpayer and the passenger”.
He warned that ministers’ withdrawal of support for Railtrack had “dented” City confidence in Government infrastructure projects. The effect would be that the City would charge more for the £4.5bn required for London Underground.
EGi News 15/11/01
