Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Streatham) has spoken out against the Conservatives’ attempts to impose further conditions on a second bailout for Transport for London. 

In talks with Sadiq Khan over the weekend, the government proposed extending the £15 congestion charge to encompass the North and South Circular, including parts of Streatham. If effected, this change would see residents in Streatham charged for short distance travel.¹ 

Last night, the Financial Times reported that the Government had also threatened to take direct control of Transport for London if they could not come to terms.² 

A London-wide petition opposing the extension to the North and South Circular Roads has already gathered over 75,000 signatures.³ 

Other proposals put forwards by the Conservatives, and resisted by City Hall, include scrapping free travel for Under-18s, raising council tax and ending concession rates. 

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour Member of Parliament for Streatham, said: 

“The Conservatives’ attempts to bully TfL into inflicting austerity on our city shows they’re fully prepared to throw Londoners under the bus in pursuit of their failed free market ideology. 

Scapegoating Sadiq Khan and punishing my constituents for their refusal to extend a helping hand to the people and businesses of London – not to mention their own total mismanagement of the pandemic – simply won’t cut it.” 

ENDS  

Notes:  

1. ‘Extend London congestion charge zone to Clapham and Catford, TfL told’, The Guardian, (16/10/2020) 

2. ‘Government threatens to take direct control of Transport for London’, Financial Times, (20/10/2020) 

3. ‘Petition the Extension of Congestion Charge’, Change.org, https://www.change.org/p/petition-the-extension-of-congestion-charge 

4. Photo attached is of an earlier Don’t Zip the Zap demonstration attended by Bell on Friday 18^th October, https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2020/09/streatham-mp-bell-ribeiro-addy-joins-free-travel-campaigners-in-parliament-square-fri-18th-sept-2020/ 

For further information about this press release, please contact Ollie Collard, Communications Officer, Office of Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP at oliver.collard@parliament.uk.