Mayor of London, , Chair of Transport for
London (TfL) has been summonsed to appear before
the London Assembly Transport Committee, to
answer questions on the Crossrail delay.
This is the first time the Transport Committee has used its
powers to summons the Mayor, .
In line with the Assembly’s statutory scrutiny role and following
its ongoing interest in the Crossrail project,
the Transport Committee has
issued [1] a summons notice requiring Mayor
of London, , in his capacity as Chairman of
Transport for London (TfL), and Mike Brown MVO, TfL Commissioner,
to attend an Extraordinary meeting of the Transport Committee
meeting on Friday, 21 December 2018 at 10am. [2]
The Chairman of Crossrail, Sir Terry Morgan CBE, has also been
invited to the Extraordinary meeting.
The summons is in response to conflicting statements from the
Mayor and the Chairman of Crossrail, Sir Terry Morgan, about who
knew what and when regarding the delayed launch of Crossrail.
Documents including briefings given to the Mayor earlier this
year about a possible delay to the project have also been
summonsed from the Mayor, as Chair of TfL, , Deputy Mayor for Transport
and David Bellamy, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff.
MBE AM, Chair of
the Transport Committee said:
“We are bitterly disappointed that this action is
necessary.
“The Transport Committee and the public have put their trust
in the Mayor that there will be transparency during his
administration and he has a duty to make sure this is the
case.
“However, in recent weeks and months it has become
increasingly clear that when it comes to the Crossrail project he
is doing the opposite.
“The Mayor must come clean about when he knew about the
Crossrail delay. It is essential for the sake of public trust and
London democracy.
“The Committee has used its power to summons the Mayor of
London as Chair of TfL and key documents in order to give him a
final chance to tell the truth and clear up this sorry
mess.”
Notes for Editors:
- Refusing or
failing to attend Assembly proceedings as required by a summons
notice without a reasonable excuse is a criminal offence.
- The summons
document will be published here with the
Committee papers.
-
Correspondence between
the Mayor and the Transport Committee
