• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

That is interesting that we suddenly use kilometres rather than miles. I hope that was not an attempt to confuse me. It nearly succeeded, but I think you are just about spot on there with the Department of Transport's own figures, which in the sort of language I think more people will understand, effectively shows that at best probably you have achieved a mile and a half extra traffic speed since Congestion Charging was introduced. I have to say, I think most people would agree that that was terribly disappointing given what you promised, and indeed what you have spent...

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

One of the things that is causing a problem with the Fulham Palace Road in terms of congestion and the way cars are jammed up and cannot move at all, quite a lot of the day, is the way the buses come out of the station there on the Broadway, swing out and actually find themselves blocked by traffic and actually end up blocking the access from Fulham Palace Road onto the Broadway. Is there anything you could look at to see whether we could not find better ways of getting the buses gaining access to the Broadway so we...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

I think most Londoners would support that in some measure. However, the limited powers of stop and search do not allow for random searches as indeed exercised by a police officer. We are still missing the actual issue. On the broader issue of knife crime, Mr Mayor, is your office commissioning any research to try and identify why our young people believe they need to carry knives? What are you doing to identify the failures of our generation, which has led the youngsters which are following us, to believe that they need to carry a knife for defence? Are you...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

You will get back to me to advise us if you are doing anything proactively?

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

I recognise what you say, Mr Mayor, and I also recognise the dangers inherent within stop and search. However, other police services up and down the country have adopted limited powers of stop and search for PCSOs and they are using them quite effectively. Knife crime, and bladed weapon crime is one of those issues which sits at the top of the fears of all Londoners and it clearly is an issue for all boroughs; it is not just in a few. Do you not think you are actually missing a trick here, and we could progress it a little...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

How then do you expect the PCSOs to target people who think it is clever to use and carry knives, as I believe it says in your report?

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

Thank you, Mayor. You made the point the other day about Crossrail and keeping the Scots in the style to which they have become accustomed. How much money and what do you mean by that?

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

I agree with you ' not about keeping the lot - but surely do you not see that so much of this money is going to relatively unproductive areas of the economy? Many economists in the North East, Northern Ireland, and the North West are saying that the private sector is being crowded out because of the amount of money that is coming from London and the South East. In other words, it is disenabling the rest of the country.

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

I realise that, and a good one actually.

• Question by: Damian Hockney
• Meeting date: 21 June 2006

If you look, for example, at the latest sort of value added tax (VAT) registrations and de-registrations; we pointed out a year ago that in central London, the disparity between closures and start-ups had narrowed and had gone the wrong way. Now it has happened, for the first time in a decade, across the whole of London where the number of closures has exceeded. One of the main reasons given is excess taxation, difficulties of doing business in the city. You made the point yourself about there being a point at which people and businesses cannot take any more taxation...