Appendix 1 Mayor’s Question Time – Thursday 18 June 2020 Transcript of Item 4 – Oral update to the Mayor’s Report Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London): Good morning, Chair. Good morning, Assembly Members. COVID-19 is the biggest challenge our city has faced since the Second World War and we are continuing to do all that we can from City Hall to prevent a catastrophic second wave of this deadly disease. One of the huge consequences is the devastating impact this had on London’s public finances, which were in good shape before the pandemic hit. Transport for London’s (TfL) income from fares has dropped by more than 90% and income from local business rates and council tax has fallen off the cliff. That is why I warned yesterday that we will be left with no choice but to make significant cuts across the Mayoral bodies unless the Government urgently acts to support local and regional authorities across the country. I would urge all Assembly Members to join me and the many mayors and local authority leaders from across the political divide who are putting pressure on the Government to do the right thing. Whatever happens, I will do what I can to protect front line services as much as possible, and it is only right that I should volunteer for an immediate pay cut and continue to not take any pension contributions in these extremely difficult circumstances. New budget guidance will be published shortly and I will keep the London Assembly and all Londoners up to date as this develops. I know millions of Londoners were horrified by the shameful scenes of violence and racism from members of the far-right over the weekend. Our police officers did a fantastic job controlling demonstrators and preventing the situation from escalating any further. I want to place on record on behalf of all Londoners my thanks and gratitude to our policemen and policewomen. More than 85 officers have been injured in the course of their duties over the last few weeks. Such violence will never be tolerated, and anyone who attacks our police or engages in acts of vandalism will always feel the full force of the law. I also, Chair, want to take this opportunity to reiterate my support for the Black Lives Matter movement. I am proud to stand with millions of people around the world raising their voices and saying loud and clear that we must end the racism and institutional discrimination that sadly still exists in our society. Can I just be clear on one thing: we must not allow any kind of equivalence to be drawn between the members of the far-right who came to our city for the sole purpose of sowing division and hatred and the supporters of Black Lives Matter, antiracists, the vast majority of whom have protested peacefully and have been excellent ambassadors for such a vital cause. I welcome the promise from the Prime Minister that the Government will look at discrimination in our public institutions, but the truth is we already know what is needed from the many Government reviews that have really been done. We do not need more delay. The time for action is now. Thank you, Chair. I have also been asked for two oral updates and with your permission I will go to them straight away. The first one is from Assembly Member [Andrew] Boff, who has asked about the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm. I asked my Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries, Justine Simons OBE, and Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement, Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, to urgently bring together arts, community and council leaders across the capital to create the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm. The Commission will consider how we improve diversity across our public realm and how we tell a more accurate story of our city. The aim is to work in partnership with boroughs and communities to ensure our street names, squares and statues properly reflect our city’s achievements and diversity. Terms of reference for the Commission are being drafted and developed in consultation with councils, community groups and other stakeholders. Within those terms of reference, I expect that the Commission will review what currently makes up London’s public realm, further the discussion into what legacy should be celebrated, and make recommendations as part of their work to establish best practice and standards. It will be wide in scope and consider commemoration, murals, street art, street names and memorials. There will be an open call for independent members of the Commission working in partnership with councils, communities and stakeholders across the capital. In the meantime, the Local Government Association (LGA) has issued a useful advice note for its members outlining some approaches to reviewing existing statues and memorials. Chair, I have also had a request for an oral update from Assembly Member [Siân] Berry in relation to arrests made during the protest this weekend. Like me, millions of Londoners would have been disgusted by these shameful scenes of violence, desecration and racism displayed by the right-wing extremists who gathered in our city this weekend. In the face of attacks and abuse, our police did a fantastic job to control the situation and to them I want to say thank you. In total, 128 arrests have been made in connection to the disorder for a range of offences including breach of the peace, violent disorder, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of Class A drugs and being drunk and disorderly. Unfortunately, arrests also had to be made after 23 officers were injured. It is clear that far-right groups were intent on causing violence and disorder in central London. We will not tolerate violence, vandalism and attacks on our police, and perpetrators will feel the full force of the law. Navin Shah AM (Chair): I already have a list of Members who have requested that they may want to come in with supplementary questions. Can I start with Assembly Member Duvall? Len Duvall AM: Chair, I have a question later on the agenda. I do not want to abuse the position, but there are some questions arising from the Mayor’s report. I would like to ask a couple of questions. Mr Mayor, thank you very much. It is right and responsible that we take early action if we can identify problems in terms of our budget. It just comes to mind. Are we in a position where we have articulated our assessments back to central Government? Have we done it for the GLA Group and family and are we doing it with the London councils and other public services that are under financial pressure? If we have not done it, when are you able to share that with us? Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London): Thank you, Assembly Member Duvall. Yes, we are talking regularly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), other departments in Government including the Prime Minister’s team, and also London councils. That includes the boroughs and also the City of London Corporation, the MPS, the London Fire Brigade (LFB), the development corporations and other partners across London. The key point to make, Assembly Member Duvall - and you will know this from previous experiences - is that we received roughly speaking £3.4 billion from a combination of business rates and council tax. There are three big issues. One is that we have spent a huge amount in dealing with COVID-19 and our response and so our expenditure has gone up, including expenditure of councils. On business rates, we know for a variety of reasons that are obvious that businesses’ pay has gone down. The Government is giving some relief to London but it does not meet the gap in relation to the business rates shortfall. Also, we know that the estimates made by councils in relation to council tax this year will fall way short because many families will now be in receipt of benefits rather than paying the full council tax. We are in conversations with the Government. One of the reasons why I was quite keen to make sure I informed Londoners about the scale of the challenge is to make sure Londoners were aware of what potentially could happen if the Government does not step in to help us. By the way, this is a challenge being felt across the country. As recently as yesterday I spoke to the Metro Nine (M9) who have similar challenges. We are speaking to the LGA, which represents a number of councils across the country. You will have seen, Assembly Member Duvall, during Prime Minister’s Questions the exchange between the Leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition and the Prime Minister where [The Rt Hon] Keir Starmer [MP, Leader of the Opposition] pointed to a letter from Conservative leaders expressing their concerns about this very same issue. Len Duvall AM: Sorry, Mr Mayor, can I just come back on that. Thank you for that answer and that was very detailed, but I would like to know when we are going to see not just the technical case and the financial gap but the case for why we should get that money in this particular time. I can think of some really good reasons for why the Government should not go down the austerity route, but I am just wondering when we are going to see that case for London being made and when we can share that. It goes over and above the technical finances, “We want money to fill this gap”.