• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

it is interesting to see, on a return from a long summer break, that Val's campaign to preserve the bendy buses continuing apace. The reason that there were problems with these buses was the second car nature of them, the fact that control of fare evasion was not allowed in the second car. It made them more dangerous on the roads. I have to say we had an incident in my constituency a couple of years ago where someone was trapped beneath a bus and dragged for over a mile because the driver could not see what was happening with...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

I think Londoners are aware that you have not yet been able to confirm that you have ever used a bus under your mayoralty, and I think more seasoned observers would be aware --

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

I am a bit worried that you are just putting your head in the sand and not accepting what everybody seems to know; that public spending is going to be cut and cut quite savagely and, in fact, there are people on your Conservative team here - if you can call them a team because a team works together does it not - on your Conservative Group, who actually want more and bigger cuts in public spending even than we might envisage. So you seem to be not prepared to say anything about difficult decisions.

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

Is it not the truth, Mr Mayor - and I note John Biggs has disappeared before he can hear it - that, thanks to the financial incompetence of this Government and its failure to begin to project what local government financing and rate support grants are going to be next year that all of us involved in local government are, almost, living in the dark because we do not know what our funding is going to be next year? We do accept the honesty of the opposition - the current opposition - that there will be cuts in national funding...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

Will you assure Dee Doocey and, indeed, the Assembly that we are doing everything that we possibly can to ensure that both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games are the most accessible Games that have ever been held and that accessibility covers free to view viewing for the disabled people at both of these elements of the Games and accessibility does mean television contracts. The latter, which is not within your control, may be influenced but it is certainly questionable but, given the prominence we are giving to the Paralympic Games, it will be foolish of the television schedulers...

• Question by: Kit Malthouse
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

Mr Mayor, I, for one, welcome the fact that you have, perfectly legitimately in your role as Mayor, set a very ambitious budgetary strategy for the Metropolitan Police Service over the next three years. Would you agree with me that the taxpayers of London are ill served by the ridiculous debate about quantity rather than about quality? We do not have to look very far in London for some shining examples of doing more for less in Wandsworth and Westminster, both of which regularly levy the lowest council tax, half very often, of their neighbouring boroughs' council tax, and yet...

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

There is no one on this side, Mr Mayor, who does not support your long-term aim about protecting the vital services which Londoners need. I think the debate is, what are the vital services which are being provided by this building and by the GLA family - and it is those things that we need to concentrate on. The boroughs are looking to you to set an example, and I suspect the Conservative Party nationally is looking to you to set an example, of the tight ship that we are going to need to have over the next couple of...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

Obviously I speak as one of your supporters on this issue and you have the assurance of Labour Members that we will rush to protect you from the knuckle scraping tendencies of the Conservative Party if they come to pillage London and take away its resources! I think I welcome part of your response where you are saying you will stand up for London against a Government which is planning to slash our services. That is a reasonably clear statement from you is it?

• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

Thank you, Chair. I think Boris and this house here will be quite happy to listen to what I am about to say. I think the idea is to lead by example, Mayor Boris, and this idea of cuts I suggested last year, not only the idea of trying to reduce the staff down by cuts - which is probably a good idea, I am not 100% sure - and to reduce our wages down. I think there are a lot of fat cats sitting round this table and really do not warrant the £100,000 plus wages a year. To...

• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 09 September 2009

I am sure everyone living in social housing is going to be delighted that the Mayor is behind them on fighting this raid by the Government which is purely an electoral raid to try to provide money in its more marginal constituencies prior to a general election --