Shaun Bailey this morning started a 32-hour bus tour of London as a part of a last campaign push forward of subsequent week’s election.
Starting in west London, the place he grew up, the Conservative candidate will make his technique to each London borough to “deliver the politics to the road” and “deal with the problems that native folks have”.
The first cease this morning was Hammersmith Bridge, which has been closed since April 2019 as a consequence of security considerations.
Mr Bailey instructed the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he had a “three-step plan” for resolving the scenario.
He stated: “Number one: make the ferry free. To cost folks to cross the river, I feel, is flawed as a result of clearly the bridge didn’t cost.
“Number two is to place a short lived bridge in. Either the Beckett Rankine one or, I’m clearly in favour of the bailey Bridge, simply in order that native folks and emergency providers can cross.
“And thirdly, is to pay cash in the direction of serving to a alternative bridge occur. That ought to’ve been the plan within the first place. I don’t know why we’re nonetheless arguing about it. The cash is there, we simply must take motion.”
But Mr Bailey has been criticised for his declare that Sadiq Khan “refused to pay” for repairs with “£2.1 billion in reserves”.
A spokesperson for Sadiq Khan’s campaign stated: “As somebody who’s aspiring to be Mayor, the Tory candidate ought to know that TfL has to maintain cash within the financial institution to pay its workers, contractors and lenders. The undeniable fact that TfL held £2 billion of money balances initially of the pandemic meant that it was capable of proceed to operate for 2 months with out recourse to Government.
“The reply for Hammersmith Bridge is for Government ministers to place their cash the place their mouth is. Sadiq will proceed to work with TfL, the councils and authorities to discover a technique to share the prices pretty and to repair this appalling scenario as soon as and for all.”
Recent opinion polls have seen Sadiq Khan keep a double-digit lead over his Conservative rival with only one week to go till the election.
But this morning, Shaun Bailey stated that “the one ballot that issues is polling day” and that he’s “assured” forward of May 6.
