London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced he is developing a Economic Recovery Action Plan to help support Londoners through the economic downturn and expected recession.
City Hall says Johnson is considering a range of measures including “bringing forward large scale infrastructure investment projects to help secure London jobs” and making it easier for small companies to bid for contracts with the Greater London Authority.
The announcement comes after former Mayor Ken Livingstone published an eight point recovery plan and called on his successor to implement it “immediately”.
In a statement issued this morning Mayor Johnson said “Sitting back is not, and never was, an option and my team and I are redoubling our efforts to sell the benefits of London to the rest of the world.”
“Although we might be in for a bumpy ride, if we handle this right, we can come out of the slump in a stronger position than before. London is the world’s greatest city, and I am determined it will remain so.”
The Mayor also stressed that “London retains the many strengths that propelled it to becoming a world leader not just in financial services, but in media, fashion and high technology.”
Responding to the news, Green party Assembly Member Darren Johnson said “the Mayor’s Economic Recovery plan seems more oriented towards defending City bankers than helping ordinary Londoners through the crunch or putting London’s economy on a long-term stable footing.”
The Assembly Member called for “a new Fares Fair campaign to cut the cost of travelling by public transport, and for energy bills to be slashed by making free insulation available to everyone that needs it.”
The plan is expected to be published before Christmas.
