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| Ken in Hammersmith this morning |
Ken Livingstone, the man hoping to unseat Boris tomorrow, was in Hammersmith on King Street this morning meeting voters.
It's far from being the first time Ken has visited our borough during this election campaign. Both men have criss crossed Hammersmith & Shepherd's Bush to try and make the most of what both see as the big issues dividing Labour and Conservatives here.
He delivered a stump speech in which he sought to hammer home is message on tube and bus fares:
“It’s 24 hours to vote to cut the fares. By voting Labour Londoners can change the fares they have to pay. In less than half an hour if you are an average London fare-payer, you can make yourself £1,000 on Thursday. Those who live in outer London can make even more.He then ambled off for a walk about in the town centre and pressed the flesh. To be honest the result is probably already decided by now but it's clear both of the main contenders are going to take it to the wire. Results are due sometime on friday afternoon/early evening I'm told.
“The only guarantee you get with Tory Boris Johnson would be another four years of above inflation fare increases. Why else would the Tory Mayor refuse to reveal any details of his fares policy if he wasn’t planning a huge fare hike?
”I’ll make millions Londoners better off with a £1000 fare cut, EMA for London, new childcare support, a cut in Londoner’s energy bills and more police on the street. A vote for Labour will reverse the disastrous Tory policies that brought us a double dip recession, fare increases and police cuts and made Londoners worse off.
“Don’t let the Tories get away with it – vote Labour in London tomorrow.”
Has he said how he proposes to pay for this "£1000 fare cut, EMA for London, new childcare support, a cut in Londoner’s energy bills and more police on the street"?
ReplyDeleteyes!, he has,
Deletehopr that helps
That was very convincing!
DeleteUm... it doesn't really help! How does he propose to pay for all that stuff?
Deletehe has said he will pay for plans with money,
ReplyDeleteas the barter system seeems to have gone the way of the dodo
hope this answers your question
no it doesn't actually. where is is he going to get the money. He is famous for making promises he can't keep. Do we really want the West London congestion charge and the tramline back.
Deleteah,now i see the problem you are having
Deletehe will get the money from something called a bank, ( it is a big building usually, though not always )then he will pay said money to people to carry out his plans,
maybe if we had tram, they could carry out plans quicker
actually, that is incorrect banks do get money out of thin air,they just pass huge numbers around to each other, no cash changes hands. as for ken, i think anyone who keeps newts as pets can't be all bad!
DeleteSorry, I'm not trying to be facetious here, but all of those promises are extremely expensive. Unless his proposal is that he's going to borrow the money he is going to have to either raise additional funds or cut other costs. I'm not a great expert on his proposed policies so just wondering which it will be?
ReplyDeleteT, there is no need to say sorry, just because you lack the time to read ken's manifesto or watch the tv interviews he has done in which he lays his plans out and how they are costed, that could happen to anyone,
ReplyDeletedoes beg the question though, why you would care now?
when all parties have been campaigning for month or more
T, there is no need to say sorry just because you have not read the manifesto or watched the debates when plans were laid out and costed, i mean the campaigns have only been going on for month or more,
ReplyDeletedoes beg the question though why you care now?
Thanks anonymous - that was really helpful!
DeleteI care now, as I have for a long time, as I believe that when an economy is overladen with debt, it is deeply irresponsible to make uncosted promises.
I asked the question as I don't know whether these particular promises are uncosted or not. I watched some of the debates, I read parts of the manifestos - not all. Unless you think there should be a policy-test before you're allowed to vote, that is hardly a crime.
I'm afraid my faith in politicians' ability to handle the economy, and not build up unsustainable and damaging debt, has been broken by consecutive Labour and Tory governments.
Can you at least post a link to the relevant bit of the manifesto which sets out how it will be costed?
well T if you have read some of the manifesto
Delete( why only some by the way? )you must have gleaned some idea who to vote for. and going on your past posts about ken i would say you have already made your mind up, this is just a not so subtle way of trying to slam him,
but each to there own!
Considering all the policies are based on "whats" and "ifs" then no I am not entirely convinced. The ETA policy is impossible to implement and is unecessary anyway. The fare cuts are also very difficult to bring in - and would mean he'd have to cut from elsewhere.
DeleteWill Ken continue his job as a newspaper columnist as he did in the last term? Maybe he can funnel the proceeds of that through his offshore account (and his biggest backer as well) to help pay for all these promises.
well boris manages to write for telegraph & be mayor, £100.000 i believe, nice to have two jobs that pay so well!!
DeleteI have made my mind up based on the information I have read so far... I don't understand why that is odd.
ReplyDeleteYou must have a very high tolerance for tedium and hyperbole if you've read all the manifestos in detail!
And I'm not trying to be subtle... I'm trying to make the point that any politicians making spending promises in the current economic climate need to back them up with info on how they will fund them. If you've read my other posts you'll see I'm pretty boring and repetitive about the subject of balancing the budget - whatever the political party.
there is nothing wrong in making your mind up,
Deleteit is just that you tried to make out you are still thinking about who to vote for,
at least we know how boris will pay for his plans,
get rid of poor people, always works!
Ah right, I get you. Sorry, I wasn't intending to give the impression I hadn't made my mind up. Even though I intended to (and did) vote for Boris, I genuinely didn't know whether these proposals of Ken's were costed or not. But seemingly they weren't... so I'm happy I cast my vote the way I did!
Delete