Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London and Labour candidate for the 2008 election, has accused the Conservative party of “incompetence…regarding the key policy issues in London.”
The comments come as Tory hopeful Andrew Boff said “the Tories’ selection process for London mayor “has turned into a referendum on the Congestion Charge and all Londoners can vote” and pledged to “scrap it when the contract comes up for renewal while Henley MP Boris Johnson wants it to continue in some form.”
Mr Livingstone today said “Andrew Boff is, of course, right that if – as is expected – Boris Johnson is selected as Tory candidate for Mayor, this will represent the overturn of the Tory Party’s seven year policy of opposition to congestion charging in London, a clear indication of the policy incompetence of the party.”
“But it will also be a total reversal of policy for Boris Johnson himself. Boris Johnson previously wrote of the “dark days of the New Labour tyranny, when the maniac Ken Livingstone is charging you an extra £1,200 for the privilege of using the Queen’s highway”(Life in the Fast Lane p185).”
“The likely reversal by the Tory Party of its seven year opposition to the congestion charge will show the incompetence of not only that Party but of all its candidates regarding the key policy issues in London.”
However Mr Boff told this publication that “the idea of democratic debate makes Livingstone twitchy” adding “the debate we are having within the Conservative Party is one the Mayor should have had when he set up the scheme. The Mayor made no serious effort to use other means of reducing congestion before the Charge was introduced.”
Mr Boff also accused the scheme of “sucking up the money out of the pockets of small businesses in London, putting jobs in Coventry and nice fat profits in the pockets of Capita shareholders.”
