Last week Boris Johnson issued a Progress Report detailing which of his 108 manifesto pledges from 2008 had been kept. Not all of them have yet. But 91% of them have been achieved.
Ken Livingstone was invited to undertake an equivalent assessment of his eight years as Mayor. He has declined to do so. But helpfully five Conservative MPs have done it for him, A thorough analysis finds that Livingstone kept fewer than half his promises.
The 74-page, 23,021 word forensic audit sets out in detail how out of the 262 promises he made he broke 69 of them and failed to deliver on 73 of them – a combined rate of 54%.
In a joint the statement, five London MPs, Stephen Hammond, Mary MacLeod, Mike Freer, Greg Hands and Jane Ellison said:
"Ken Livingstone says one thing but does another, with a record in office of broken promises and a failure to deliver on key election pledges.
"Despite repeatedly making promises to cut crime, invest in transport, keep fares low and support business, he delivered on less than half of his promises.
"This is in stark contrast to Boris Johnson, whose own Progress Report shows how he has delivered on 91% of his election manifesto.
"How can Londoners trust a man who break or fails to deliver on more promises than he keeps?"
Key Livingstone election promises broken include:
TRANSPORT
MANIFESTO PROMISE
"We will invest £1 billion a year every year in the London Underground."
(Ken Livingstone, A Manifesto 4 London, 2004, p. 13).
PROMISE BROKEN
Between 2005/06 to 2008/9 the investment in London Underground capital programmes peaked at £597.2 million, only half of the annual promised investment
(GLA, Capital Spending Plan, 2005/6 – 2008/9: 2005/06; 2006/07; 2007/08; 2008/09).
MANIFESTO PROMISE
"I will freeze tube fares in real terms for four years"
(Ken Livingstone, Ken 4 London, 2000, p. 8).
PROMISE BROKEN
In January 2004 – before the election – cash fares on the Tube rose by up to 25 per cent. Travelcards also increased. Livingstone himself admits in his recent memoirs: ‘I decided to increase the fares before the [2004] election’ (TfL, Board Papers: Agenda Item 5, 29 October 2003; Ken Livingstone, You can’t say that, October 2011).
MANIFESTO PROMISE
I will freeze bus fares for four years (Ken Livingstone, Ken 4 London, 2000, p. 8).
PROMISE BROKEN
In January 2004, the single bus fare outside central London was increased from 70p to £1 a rise of 43 per cent. The weekly bus pass for those travelling outside central London rose from £7.50 to £9.50, an increase of 26.6 per cent. For those travelling in central London it rose by 11.7 per cent, from £8.50 to £9.50 (TfL Press Release, New Year, New Fares, 2 January 2004).
CRIME
MANIFESTO PROMISE
‘We will improve safety and security on the Tube and the bus network by building on the success of the Transport Operational Command Unit and increasing resources for policing bus routes, the Underground and the taxi and mini-cab trade.
(Ken Livingstone, A Manifesto 4 London, 2004, p. 21).
FAILURE TO DELIVER
Between 2001/02 and 2007/08 the number of notifiable and non-notifiable crimes on London Underground increased by 41 per cent (British Transport Police, Statistical Bulletins 2002/03 to 2007/08).
MANIFESTO PROMISE
‘Instigate a London-wide programme of crime mapping and crime prevention (Ken Livingstone, Ken 4 London, 2000, p. 14).
PROMISE BROKEN
This was not delivered. This was delivered under Mayor Boris Johnson and the Met now have interactive crime maps on their website The Government launched a UK wide crime map website in early 2011 (Met Website, Metropolitan Police Crime Mapping BBC News Online, Street-level crime maps launched online, 1 February 2011).
GOVERNANCE
MANIFESTO PROMISE
‘Appoint the best possible team to the board of the new London Development Agency with a majority of members from businesses, big and small, with a record of successful job creation in London (Ken Livingstone, Ken 4 London, 2000, p. 23).
FAILURE TO DELIVER
This was already a legal requirement – the GLA Act sets out that a majority of LDA board members must have experience of running a business (Ken Livingstone, Mayor’s Question Time, 29 June 2000).
Ken Livingstone’s appointments clearly failed to provide the LDA with the right leadership. When Boris Johnson was elected, the LDA was mired in controversy and he established an independent Forensic Audit Panel to investigate the failings of the LDA that had led to police investigations into its grants. The panel concluded ‘Our investigations have left us in no doubt that money has been misspent on a massive scale, say tens of millions’. The panel also found that the LDA ‘has failed historically to deliver value for money’ (Evening Standard, Scandal of LDA’s missing millions, 16 July 2008; GLA, Report of the Mayor’s Forensic Audit Panel, 15 July 2008, p.6).