[A-List] UK state: London mayoral election

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

This is good -- basically the PPP proposed by the government is crap,
Livingstone was correct to oppose it, but should now roll over and accept it
because it's all we've got. Geez, if only I had what it takes to become a
highly paid finance columnist.


Outlook by Jeremy Warner
PPP for the Tube
The Independent, 12 November 2002

The public private partnership for the London Underground has been the most
sorry and tortuous of affairs. On and on it drags as the Tube sinks further
into the silt. The contracts were finally to have been signed and let next
month, but now the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, promises to throw another
spanner in the works by lodging an appeal with the European courts.

All legal objections have so far been thrown out, but Mr Livingstone
believes the mere act of appealing would be enough to delay the PPP yet
further. For some companies involved, another delay might prove terminal, a
possibility that seems to delight Mr Livingstone. The firms would "not get a
damn penny before the next election", he told a conference at the the
weekend. "They are about to go up the Swanee".

Mr Livingstone has scored some good points off the Government during his
battle over the PPP. The Treasury never did succeed in credibly
demonstrating that the contracts represented value for money. What's more,
the detail of the contracts makes it plain that the private sector would
have to be completely incompetent in its performance to make a loss on the
contracts. The way things are going, that seems only too possible with Amey
and W S Atkins. Much more likely is that even they will end up coining it.

The PPP, on the other hand, is not really about value for money. It is
neither the best or the cheapest way of improving the Tube, but for a
government with so many other public spending priorities, it may be the only
way of ensuring that the necessary maintenance and upgrades for a system
strained to breaking point actually take place.

Mr Livingstone cannot or doesn't want to see this. Instead he seems intent
only on further disruption. Politically he may be right in thinking this a
bigger vote winner than buckling under and ensuring that the PPP is a
success. But it cannot be the responsible thing to do. The battles have been
lost and so essentially has the war, but still Mr Livingstone believes he
can strike a blow against the Government and its capitalist bedfellows. It
is vital that the Tube gets the extra investment it needs. Like a Luddite,
Mr Livingstone stands in the way of progress and Londoners will eventually
curse him for it.