Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan clashed over fares yesterday as the Tory candidate for mayor said a freeze would endanger plans for 270,000 new homes, while his Labour rival accused transport chiefs of presiding over “waste, excess and inefficiency”.
The showdown came over the crucial battleground of an alleged “black hole” in Khan’s transport plans, arising from his promise to hold down Tube and bus fares for four years.
It began with Goldsmith launching his transport manifesto in Ilford this morning, with a claim that a fares freeze would divert £1.9bn from investment and could cause the cancellation of vital new rail lines linked to growth and homes, including the Barking Riverside development.
Minutes later, Khan used a speech in Brixton to hit back with a stinging assault on “bloated” Transport for London, accusing it of a “culture of excess” and implying there was plenty of room to cover the lower figure of £450mn that he claims a freeze would cost.
The skirmish treated Londoners to the sight of the mayoral frontrunners engaging in political cross-dressing, with the Conservative candidate arguing for higher investment and Labour’s one demanding efficiency savings.
Goldsmith stepped up his attack by estimating that 270,000 extra homes and 250,000 new jobs were reliant on transport schemes funded by the Transport for London budget.
He scorned Khan’s claim that he could find risk-free savings, saying: “His union paymasters will never allow him to make tough decisions.”
He also mocked Khan for using “David Brent corporate speak about ‘sweating the assets’”.
Khan replied with a list of targets for a “crackdown on waste and inefficiency” at TfL and said there would be an external root and branch review of its structures and functions and a “forensic review” of its business plan to weed out “vanity projects”.
“I’ll be the bus driver’s son who makes commuting more affordable,” he said. He criticised TfL for paying 450 staff more than £100,000 a year and spending £383mn a year on consultants and agency workers, saying: “It’s simply not acceptable.”
Khan’s controversial pledge of a fares freeze has seen him at odds with TfL officials.
In January, transport commissioner Mike Brown confirmed that it would cost £1.9bn, allowing the Tories to allege a financial black hole in Labour’s plans. Earlier this month, however, he conceded it was “legitimate” for Labour to use a different calculation.
An attack on Zac Goldsmith for failing to declare donations in the Commons backfired when Sadiq Khan was accused of having a worse record.
Goldsmith admitted he may have broken Westminster rules by registering £120,000 worth of campaign gifts after the deadline.
However, Khan then found £310,000 worth of donations to him or his local party under scrutiny, including £149,000 from trade unions.
The furore began when Labour MP Neil Coyle made a formal complaint after spotting that Goldsmith had reported a batch of old donations, adding up to £120,000 over several years, on the Register of Member’s Interests last June.
They included two gifts dating to 2010: £5,500 from his mother and £1,800 from his half-brother.
£310,000 worth of donations to Sadiq Khan is under scrutiny.
Both had been declared on the Electoral Commission’s register of donations, but not on the separate Register of Member’s Interests at Westminster.
Standards commissioner Kathryn Hudson has now launched an inquiry into whether Goldsmith broke rules by failing to declare the gifts within 28 days.
Coyle welcomed the probe, saying: “There shouldn’t be one rule for the former non-dom and another for everyone else.” But his words rebounded when the Tories unearthed records of donations to Khan that appeared to be either registered late or not at all.
Tory MP Paul Scully, in a letter to Ms Hudson, said: “There appear to be serious omissions and irregularities.” He highlighted a £60,000 gift from Unite.
Khan’s spokesman said 20 gifts were donated after the deadline, mostly by a few days, but denied union donations to his Tooting constituency party had to be listed under the rules.
He added: “This is desperate stuff from the Tories, who are trying to distract attention from the fact that Zac Goldsmith is once again facing an official probe into his campaigns.”