Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Transport for London Budget

Thursday 28 January 2021 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Mayor of London is responsible for Crossrail's costs and completion through Transport for London.
  • The Government have offered an additional 825 million in borrowing to meet Crossrail's funding shortfall.
  • The Government have provided 3.3 billion and counting to TfL to keep it afloat.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Felicity Buchan
Transport
Context

Crossrail project is facing significant overruns and delays, causing financial strain on Transport for London (TfL). The Mayor of London's handling of the TfL budget has been questioned.

Question

I am concerned about the Mayor of London's progress in putting the Transport for London budget on a sound footing. What assessment has he made?

Answer from Grant Shapps (Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Mayor of London is responsible for Crossrail's costs and completion through Transport for London, although the Government have offered an additional £825 million in borrowing to meet Crossrail's funding shortfall.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not directly address the assessment of progress with specific details or commitments on improvements

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Q2 Felicity Buchan
Transport
Context

The Crossrail project is over budget and delayed, impacting ordinary Londoners who are facing a 10% increase in their council tax share.

Question

My right hon. Friend agrees that the Mayor of London has monumentally mismanaged the Crossrail project, which is over budget and several years delayed, and that it is ordinary Londoners who are having to pick up the bill with a 10% increase in the share of council tax for the Mayor?

Answer from Grant Shapps (Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government)

My hon. Friend is correct about the failure to deliver Crossrail on time at £5.2 billion; higher pensions at TfL at £828 million; the fare freeze with £640 million of fares not collected; and fare dodging at £400 million.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Acknowledged mismanagement but did not address the specific question about agreement or impact on taxpayers

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Q3 Sam Tarry
Transport
Context

The Government cut £4 million from Transport for the North, while TfL faces financial strain. Public transport ridership has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

Question

Instead of levelling up the north, where this Government have cut £4 million from Transport for the North, the Minister and his Government clearly intend to level down London's transport network. This is not the first time we have had to come to the House to ask about the Government's support for TfL because it did not go far enough in the first place. At a time when public transport ridership has collapsed and we are still a long way off recovering to pre-pandemic ridership levels, we must think about redistribution. That is clearly the right approach. Vehicle excise duty, which raises £500 million from drivers who live in London, is invested almost exclusively in roads outside the city. Keeping it in the capital would enable TfL to continue to be a world-class transport provider and boost our nation's economy, so will the Transport Secretary commit to looking at this as a way to support TfL?

Answer from Grant Shapps (Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government have provided £3.3 billion and counting to TfL to keep it afloat. The hon. Gentleman now wants to give the Mayor responsibility for collecting vehicle excise duty in addition, considering an over £31 band D increase in council tax this year and additional boundary taxes.

Not addressed: Did not commit to redistributing funds as requested, instead focused on criticism of TfL's financial management and proposed taxes

How: Criticized Tfl

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