• Question by: Lord Bailey of Paddington
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Lord Bailey of Paddington AM: Thank you, Chair. Good afternoon, Mr Mayor. I just want to quickly talk about this Drugs Commission. You have been very clear to say it is not about drugs; it is about cannabis. But we have to remember that legal drugs also cause a great deal of harm in society. I lost my brother to alcoholism. I have worked with a number of young people who have been murdered because of the drug trade. I want to make sure that in your estimation and your reply to drugs that you have taken into account the...

• Question by: Hina Bokhari OBE
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Hina Bokhari AM: Child poverty can be reduced immediately by scrapping the two-child benefit cap. Will you be writing to this next Government as you did with the last?

• Question by: Emma Best
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Emma Best AM: Thank you, Chair. Mr Mayor, some of the people who do not feel as though they are sharing equally in the success of London’s economy are those working in the night-time economy. I want to focus particularly on the nightlife element of London’s economy. We know, obviously, since COVID, the higher you are the harder you fall, and unfortunately that has been the case in London. While we see cities like Liverpool generating 43 per cent growth, we are struggling to get back to where we once were in London and maintain that reputation that we have...

• Question by: Alessandro Georgiou
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Alessandro Georgiou AM: Thank you, Mr Chair. Mr Mayor, in our previous exchange two Mayor’s Question Times ago [23 May 2024], we discussed the Green Belt, and I welcomed your response. However, I am concerned by comments coming from special advisers and in particular MPs in the new Labour Government. I am not going to debate the rights and wrongs of your recent decision on Hounslow on building in the Green Belt but I am just observing it, but I have always defended you when it comes to the Green Belt and I have always said that I may disagree...

• Question by: Leonie Cooper
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Léonie Cooper AM: Thank you, Chair. Mr Mayor, I just wanted to briefly make sure that this word ‘suspended’, which is being used, that we are all absolutely clear not only that the post has not been suspended and actually given that we had barely been back in the building for two and a half weeks when [The Rt Hon] Rishi Sunak [MP, former Prime Minister] stood in the rain and declared an election. To say you have been not doing much for two months is a strange thing for the Assembly Member to say. To be absolutely clear, the...

• Question by: Emma Best
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Emma Best AM: Thank you. In yesterday’s session, we heard again and again and again that the single biggest problem for dentistry is not to do with funding. In fact, in London, money had to go back to the Treasury last year because of the underspend. The single biggest issue is the 2006 contract changes under the previous Labour Government and so I do hope that you will work with this new Government to change those. I also wanted to raise as well that before the time of the outgoing Government, they produced in February 2024 the Dentistry Recovery Plan...

• Question by: Emma Best
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Emma Best AM: Thank you. Mr Mayor, recently we have had issues with cameras being tilted onto non ULEZ roads, residents ticketed, and their objections rejected by TfL. I would think that this would be one of the easiest cases of an appeal to get right. Please can you have a review because it has caused a lot of distress to a lot of people.

• Question by: Andrew Boff
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Andrew Boff AM: Mr Mayor, I appreciate the transport question that was asked today because it gives me an opportunity to raise to you the issue of the temporary closure of Colindale Station. Colindale residents around Colindale Station raised their concerns prior to the closure that the temporary arrangements, the replacement buses, and the supposed increased capacity of existing bus routes would in some way make it easier for residents. A survey has recently been done by the Colindale Station Concerned Group - completed on 14 July [2024], therefore it is a very current survey of residents in the area...

• Question by: Alex Wilson
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Alex Wilson AM: Thank you, Chair. Mr Mayor, you very recently launched a consultation on the proposed charges for the Silvertown and Blackwall Tunnels, which some of us think will be another burden on working Londoners going about their daily business. Now, I think it is fair to say there was a degree of dissatisfaction with the manner in which the consultation on the ULEZ extension was handled. Given that, how can we be confident in the voracity of this new consultation and if it delivers a result that you are not necessarily looking for, will you still press ahead...

• Question by: Alex Wilson
• Meeting date: 18 July 2024

Alex Wilson AM: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for your comments on that question, and I think all of us here share our strong support for the national team and their performance in the Euros was a fantastic experience for the whole country to get behind. However, there are questions and some perceptions of double standards I think need to be discussed. I used a minicab to get to the pub that I watched the final in and it was proudly displaying a Palestinian flag. Now I was not mad keen on that, but I did not have a complaint...