• Question by: Florence Eshalomi MP
• Meeting date: 17 December 2020

Florence Eshalomi AM MP: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr Mayor, for that answer, and again it just highlights the fact that we do need to look at how we help families. Mr Mayor, you will remember last year we went to the Peckham Pantry in Southwark to see the good work of different organisations who were effectively supporting people who were in work but having to rely on food banks. Now, just yesterday the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced that for the first time they are going to be feeding children in the UK, including £25,000 going to...

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 17 December 2020

Tony Arbour AM (Deputy Chairman): Yes, Mr Mayor. I think that Assembly Member Cooper was referring to me when she inferred that someone was saying that your deal with Octopus has not been terribly good. The truth of the matter is that it is not terribly good. It has taken nine months to sign up 3,000 London residents. You have invested £3 million in this, or the GLA has invested £3 million in this. This is a subsidy of £800 per person who has signed up. It has been a very poor response. I have to say - and this...

• Question by: Susan Hall
• Meeting date: 17 December 2020

Susan Hall AM: Yes, I do. Thank you. Mr Mayor, I spoke to Ken Marsh from the Metropolitan [Police] Federation this morning and I believe he has written to you with concerns about the demonstrations this weekend. Over 800 police officers are required to police the demonstrations and it is at a time, apparently, I have been told, when more officers are off work than ever before with COVID-related issues. What are you going to do to discourage protests and protect the frontline officers at this very dangerous time? As we all know, any of us who have been on...

• Question by: Leonie Cooper
• Meeting date: 17 December 2020

Léonie Cooper AM: Mr Mayor, I just wondered if we could pick up on this issue about housing. It is not just community groups in terms of power that I asked you about earlier on. You have been working with groups across London, and I wondered if you could say a bit about the St Ann’s site and the work that has been going on there.

• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 17 December 2020

Andrew Boff AM: Despite Londoners’ housing crisis, you have yet to allocate £535 million of the record grant that Government has allocated you to date. Do you not think you could have supported a few more community-led projects with that money?

• Question by: Leonie Cooper
• Meeting date: 17 December 2020

Léonie Cooper AM: Thanks very much, Chair. Mr Mayor, I agree with a lot of what you have been doing. Since May 2016 you have been moving as fast as you possibly can with consultations and moving ahead with implementing the Toxicity Charge (T-Charge), the central London ULEZ and the wider London Low Emission Zone. The first Mayor of London also implemented a lot of actions around addressing climate change and cleaning up the air with the Congestion [Charge] Zone. Unfortunately, between 2008 and 2016, there was an intervening Mayor and it was in 2013 when Ella [Adoo-Kissi-Debrah], sadly, died...

• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 19 November 2020

Steve O’Connell AM: Thank you very much, Chair. Thank you very much, Mayor, for your response. Certainly the first half of it I welcomed very much. I was interested in the impact on the GLA family’s finances of the Croydon position. You have covered that. I am also pleased that you may be able to give not some financial support but some support in officer support and elsewhere because Croydon is in a very difficult situation. I really do not want a political debate about this, frankly, because this is a tragedy for Croydon residents and for the people who...

• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 19 November 2020

Len Duvall AM: That exchange was just staggering. It was a new low in terms of the Conservative Group and their line of questioning. Of course, Mayor, you need to put up the council tax because it is part of the agreement and that agreement has been imposed by the Government. The fact is that, if the [Assembly] Member opposite ever became Mayor, he would have to do the same because he has already committed himself to wiping out our services to pay for his extra police officers. Navin Shah AM (Chair): Can we have a question, please? Len Duvall...

• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 19 November 2020

Steve O'Connell AM: Yes, if I may, Chair, thank you very much. It is my constituency and I was there post-event, a massive tragedy for the people of Croydon. I thank all those people who supported, all those organisations and people who supported at that time and continue to support. Yes, it is regrettable that the inquest, which was supposed to be held only a couple of weeks ago, has been put off to the new year. I join in, more in sadness than in anger, in supporting the request for some work to be done independently on this. Not...

• Question by: David Kurten
• Meeting date: 19 November 2020

David Kurten AM: Yes. Thank you, Chair. Good morning, Mr Mayor. I want to ask you about something you mentioned in your answer there to Assembly Member Whittle, who asked about the incident at Speakers’ Corner on Sunday. It seems that Speakers’ Corner is closed at the moment. I was there on Sunday to observe what was going on and I was quite shocked to see a person who is a YouTuber giving a speech. He was surrounded by police, pulled off his chair and bundled into the back of a police van. I was also shoved by a police...