• Question by: Marina Ahmad
• Meeting date: 24 June 2021

Marina Ahmad AM: Mr Mayor, as you know, the Government’s own adviser, [Sir] Kevan Collins, who was the education recovery czar and, as you know, resigned his post because he was so appalled at the paltry provision made by the Government for a post-pandemic education recovery for our children. [Sir] Kevan Collins understood that a child’s life chances are best served by investment in her or his early years, as you do, Mr Mayor. In his letter of resignation he singled out early years education as needing further investment and I quote directly, “Not enough is being done” by Government...

• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 24 June 2021

Len Duvall AM: This is an extremely complex area, Mr Mayor. One of the tests of smell is what they tell police officers to do when they stop cars for the issue of moving towards breathalysation, which is the smell of alcohol. There is increasing concern about driving under the influence of drugs. What I want to avoid and I think you want to avoid is mixed messages. Even the Assembly Member for the Greens would accept that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is an important issue. If I was a young police officer who stopped a...

• Question by: Tony Devenish
• Meeting date: 27 May 2021

Tony Devenish AM: Good morning, Mr Mayor. Congratulations on your re-election. I would like to fully support your call to build bridges with our Government. Assembly Member Rogers and I met with the Government last night on Hammersmith Bridge. It is clear that the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham needs all our help to reopen the Bridge as soon as possible. Will you please ask the Deputy Mayor [for Transport] to redouble efforts to help the London Borough with the Government to reopen the Bridge as soon as possible?

• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 27 May 2021

Andrew Boff AM: Thank you, Mr Mayor. We both attended the opening of the Blossom Garden, which was absolutely brilliant, I must say. I was really moved by the commitment of the staff who had been invited towards fighting the pandemic. After the event I went and talked to those staff. I said, “Now I am Chair of the London Assembly, what question would you ask?” The question that those NHS workers, many of whom were London ambulance drivers, asked me to raise to you was the issue for them of the increased costs that they are going to face...

• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 27 May 2021

Len Duvall AM: You early on alluded to the issues of financing police officers rather than buildings because they are the choices that we have. You have rightly said earlier on that you have funded both enforcement action as well as crime preventative actions. Is there a structural problem in police funding around this and the safety of Londoners? If we go back to 2010 when the last austerity cuts on policing were, and then we roll forward to the grants that we are receiving from central Government, international grants, capital city grants, it roughly equates to the £800 million...

• Question by: Nick Rogers
• Meeting date: 27 May 2021

Nicholas Rogers AM: We have to bring the question of keeping Londoners safe perhaps to a more local level. Many of my constituents in Richmond are deeply worried about crime in the community at present. Tragically, as I am sure you are aware, last week there was a murder in central Richmond in broad daylight. This has compounded residents’ existing concerns after some very serious antisocial behaviour incidents around Richmond Green and the riverside following the previous lockdown easing last summer. Given these - entirely justifiable, entirely understandable - concerns, and given the previous decision to close Richmond Police Station...

• Question by: Susan Hall
• Meeting date: 27 May 2021

Susan Hall AM: Congratulations, Mr Mayor, on your reappointment. On a more specific issue of the safety of Londoners, I wanted to ask you about the safety of Jewish Londoners in light of the horrific instances of antisemitism that we have seen in the city these last few weeks. I was contacted last night by the London Jewish Forum regarding really harrowing incidents of police just standing by while antisemitic abuse was shouted from crowds and protests. They are extremely concerned that what is happening is that the police are effectively just containing this verbal abuse, rather than actively stopping...

• Question by: Zack Polanski
• Meeting date: 27 May 2021

Zack Polanski AM: Mr Mayor, have you now come around to lobbying for a basic income as the Assembly has?

• Question by: Lord Bailey of Paddington
• Meeting date: 18 March 2021

Shaun Bailey AM: Good morning, Mr Mayor. I want to ask a question about the vigil for Sarah Everard. Did your office have any communication with the police about how it would be policed?

• Question by: Caroline Pidgeon
• Meeting date: 18 March 2021

Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM: Mr Mayor, despite Andy Byford [Commissioner of Transport for London] effectively saying cash will be back at some point on the Tube, I am aware that TfL has now commissioned research on the role of cash payments. With around 260,000 adult Londoners without a bank account and of course many young people without one, the evidence is already there. Will you rule out the Underground going permanently cashless under your watch as Mayor?