• Question by: Brian Coleman
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

I think Londoners do not expect this Assembly to turn into a political diatribe, whether it is from one party or another. They expect a discussion on matters of relevance to Londoners.

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

I do not know. I see a certain silence in some parts of the Chamber. Can I just ask one final factual question? How many City Hall staff were involved in the organisation of the event at Camden that you and President Chávez spoke at?

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

Do you discuss it with the Chair of the London Labour Party, Len Duvall? He sits here and is part responsible for London as well.

• Question by: Geoff Pope
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

You referred to the issue of train versus high-speed rail. Surely, one of the greatest users of Stratford to the continent would be people in Canary Wharf? It is going to be far easier for them to access the Channel routes by trains if there are frequent services via Stratford rather than having to come to the centre of London and go out again. This is an opportunity we should be following up, is it not?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

A huge amount of money has been spent on the station at Stratford, and as well as some reassurance to Olympic committee members when they visited London that there would be an international link there, is this not likely to be worrying news for them to hear that this is now in doubt?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

Are you not disappointed that this may have been an overspend on the station given the amount that it is going to be used for? The Olympics are supposed to provide us with a legacy for afterwards, not just with something that is being used at the time.

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

Do you intend to close City Hall that day?

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

I have been critical, and we have been critical, of you in the past going off on foreign policy issues, and we think you should stick to matters that pertain to London government and to city government. The difficulty I have is understanding, when you sit down with the Mayor of Beijing and there are issues on the agenda, what you will talk about and what you will not talk about, if you are prepared to be appearing to excuse current excesses by the Chinese Government.

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

You said that the Mayor of Beijing is going to be invited, and I note that among the issues to be discussed will be the role of women in society. Can I ask you what your approach is to talking about human rights at that meeting, and in particular the rights of women, given that when you were in Beijing recently you equated actions by the Chinese Government around Tiananmen Square with British Government actions?

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 17 April 2006

The point I am trying to get to is about how one engages with, in this case, Mayors from overseas, and on which issues. If you are not prepared to talk about difficult issues as you were not in your recent trip to Beijing, at what point do you draw the line? Who will you sit down with in these sorts of meetings?