• Question by: Valerie Shawcross
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

I very much welcome the enthusiasm of Elizabeth for this project, because it will be a major core contribution to transport capacity in South London. However, I think the discussion we had earlier about how the Assembly positions itself is quite relevant to this. Do you think that we could have a more united London approach if the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Members on this Assembly joined positively in lobbying their national colleagues for a pro-London agenda for public transport investment and thought far more seriously about their attacks on the TfL budget at the budget time of year. The...

• Question by: Lynne Featherstone
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

I am concerned that whilst prudential borrowing is an option for a number of projects, your rather instantaneous pledge to fund the East London Line will simply let the Treasury off the hook and Londoners will end up having to pay the interest on any such loan. I am further concerned that this will extend to a great number of projects. Do you not have concerns that every time you say you will pay, the Government is off the hook?

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

So you cannot give us assurance of any timetable. You were talking about putting out tenders and so forth at that time.

• Question by: Elizabeth Howlett
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

I am very delighted to have that information. I worry about the statement you gave us on 25 February, that because Gordon Brown (Chancellor of the Exchequer) had graciously given you £400 million borrowing approval, TfL would fund and build the East London Line. If you were so committed to it at that time, why are you saying you need permission from Government to build?

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

Given that business is a major stakeholder in London, what kind of contribution can we expect from them in the major infrastructural projects we have in mind in London?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

You have said over a long period of time that you require more money from Government and have used a deficit as a justification for this. Surely your position on the bus budget with the way it is growing is just unsustainable in the longer term and you need to plan to do something about it?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

If you did not get the funding from central Government "and, after all, you do not always get what you ask for " we have calculated that you may well need to more than double the precept to fill that gap. Is that an option that you are considering?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

I can understand that, but of course it is the role of this Assembly to ensure that you are managing your finances in a prudent fashion and that you have plans to deal with the situation if it should materialise. If you were not willing to raise the precept you would either have to increase bus fares, or we have calculated, cut more than a half of the bus routes in London. Have you considered those options?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

In the past four years, you have actually spent more on strengthening road bridges for 40-tonne trucks than you have on cycling and on safe routes to school. It sounds to me as though TfL's priorities are not designed for average Londoners. I am very curious about when you are going to put all the soft options for safe routes to school and cycling and walking into TfL's baseline budget, which it does not have at the moment. All these things are very vital to the quality of life but they are treated as just `top ups' that are desirable...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 24 June 2004

Perhaps if you read some military history in your leisure time over the summer recess, you might become aware of the fact that all consistently successful generals are in fact those who plan for all eventualities. Against that background, what eventualities are you planning for to deal with the reality that TfL's own figures show that the bus division will be running at a deficit of about £0.75 billion in 2004/05, rising to £1 billion in 2009/10. If the Government does not give you a bail out, what are the alternatives? What plans do you have in view either to...