• Question by: Dee Doocey
• Meeting date: 06 April 2005

I am rather surprised that you have made such light of this because my understanding of revaluation is that it is entirely possible in areas where house prices have gone up, very much since 1991, that the likely outcome of the revaluation is that those houses are going to move up two bands, not one band. Therefore, I do not know why you think that it will not be a major problem, because we are talking about figures of between £360 and, speaking from memory, about £580 a year for families. I think that is grossly unfair because people's houses...

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 06 April 2005

I thought you said that you had been very straightforward with the electorate and that you were an old-fashioned socialist who believed in redistribution through the tax system. What do you feel is the maximum that people who are currently in band D tax homes could afford to pay?

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 06 April 2005

Obviously, that is what you would have to push. You have a predilection to increase taxes in any case.

• Question by: Lord Duvall of Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich OBE
• Meeting date: 06 April 2005

In some ways, is that not the next logical step for those who support local income tax, that, if it was ever introduced, should not we then be collecting it on behalf of our colleagues in local government and we would become the collecting body rather than local authorities? Furthermore, it is the wrong word, but the constitutional balance of local government has changed, has it not, about setting rates and collecting issues?

• Question by: Andrew Pelling
• Meeting date: 06 April 2005

I will roll my later question (730/2005, Council Tax re-banding exercise: Considering the huge discrepancy in property prices between London and other parts of England, what will you do to ensure that the Government and Valuation Office Agency set a reasonable Council Tax re-banding level for London?) into this one so you do not have to come back to it later on. Have you met with any Government Minister to discuss the likely damaging effects of the re-banding on Londoners? Will you also look to lobby for an expansion of the bands from the current seven to nine, and have...

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 16 April 2005

That is quite a significant move. How will you be able to define that the PPP is demonstrably not working? What targets have you set for the companies for that decision point next year when you are planning to do this?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 16 April 2005

When we spoke to Bob Kiley this morning, he said that engineering overruns, such as the problems we experienced with Metronet sub-surface lines today, would form a significant part of that judgement. He also said that he felt that the practice of re-starting every morning was a potential safety hazard and he sounded quite concerned about it. Do you share his concerns about the safety of operating the Underground under this system?

• Question by: Roger Evans
• Meeting date: 16 April 2005

If it were to come to the crunch next year, would you be willing to go back to the courts? How much money have you set aside in the budget for legal challenge and for the cost of making changes?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 16 April 2005

No, you did not. In what part of your manifesto?

• Question by: Angie Bray
• Meeting date: 16 April 2005

Let me give you my take on two years on. Seriously damaged businesses across the capital, and a business community in some pain; a huge majority against expanding it ' two more petitions in today ' and not least because most people think there is not that much congestion in West London that needs dealing with. No other city is prepared even to consider a Congestion Charge after the massive no votes in Edinburgh, leaving London completely isolated. A broken promise about not needing to raise the charge from £5 to £8 for at least 10 years, and of course...