• Question by: Steve O'Connell
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

Mr Mayor, that was one of the points, picking up on Nicky's [Nicky Gavron AM] comment. As the husband of a small shop owner, the two pressures that come to bear on our shops are twofold; mainly rent and rent reviews, which are out of the control of this building, and also business rates. They are the two main demands upon small businesses. The councils, as has been pointed out, are merely collecting the business rate. I think it would be helpful if we were all to lobby and support a retention, in part, of business rates by local authorities...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

Can I just check, because I think Andrew is right to talk about the £9.3 billion because my information is that, within that £9.3 billion - in other words within the LOCOG allocation - there is already a non-accredited media operation planned for, so that this spending is actually in addition to what is already being spent on non-accredited media in the £9.3 billion.

• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

Mr Mayor, is the problem, though, with this that it raises public expectations?

• Question by: Gareth Bacon MP
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

Mr Mayor, the spirit of the new politics actually started long before the General Election because there was some consensus on the Environment Committee between the Conservative group and the Liberal Democrats and, in fairness, I think some of the Labour Members as well with regard to the possibility of an inner London Low Emission Zone, provided that it could be accompanied by a government-subsidised vehicle retro-fitting scheme. This is something that obviously the Government did not want to play ball with at all and did not engage full stop. Will your environmental advisers be speaking to the new Secretary...

• Question by: Richard Tracey
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

Mr Mayor, in this conversation with Philip Hammond [Secretary of State for Transport], when you meet him, can you raise two points that are very relevant to our earlier discussions about the use of Heathrow? One is can you encourage him to go ahead with the high speed rail links which will indeed encourage people to travel by rail, rather than using the internal flights to get to Heathrow. The second one is could you press him to stop the early flights that creep in between 4am and 6am, when 6am is supposed to be the cut off, and wake...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

Mr Mayor, the previous regime at Whitehall always prevented its ministers giving evidence to this Assembly. They could come along and meet us informally in the basement but they never sat where you are and gave evidence to us.

• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

As you know, Crossrail is one of those London united issues and I think we are all pleased to hear you have already started lobbying on the issue. One of the anxieties that people are feeling at the moment is that there may possibly be a proposal to chop off one of these important spurs of the Crossrail project, either out at the Maidenhead end or down to Abbey Wood. In your view, would it damage the business case for the whole of Crossrail if any part of the project, as now planned, was to be lost?

• Question by: James Cleverly
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

Mr Mayor, do you think that the local election results for the Conservative councils in outer London might have been different if they were in receipt of the kind of grant settlements that Labour controlled inner London boroughs received?

• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

Laugh it up fuzzballs. I do not think anybody here got anything out of these elections at all. As regards the Conservative/Liberal Democrats, let us give it 6 months or 12 years. Moving to the question, through yourself, Chair, would the Mayor agree that where electoral fraud takes place it should be investigated? I, along with the British National Party in Barking and Dagenham, with 100 cases of direct electoral fraud, are now going through the electoral petition. Regarding my own ward of Goresbrook, a Labour candidate elected was unduly elected because she works for the council. Her excuse is...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 19 May 2010

Is it not the case that you were tucked away because of the relative incoherence of your administration and its muddledness and that is why the Conservatives won far fewer seats in London than they anticipated? Perhaps answer this question; are you a Liberal Democrat Conservative or just a plain old Conservative? Are you a Liberal Democrat Conservative now?