Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

London's transport system gets fund to operate until March 2021

London's transport system has secured a bailout from the government worth nearly £2 billion, following weeks of politically-charged wrangling as the coronavirus continues to decimate revenues.

Transport for London (TfL), which runs the British capital's public transport network, said the deal worth £1.8 billion would enable it to keep operating services until the end of March 2021.


It comes as England enters a second national lockdown for four weeks, with people ordered to stay at home except in cases where exemptions apply, such as for work, education or exercise.

Pubs and restaurants will shut unless serving takeaway food, while all leisure and entertainment venues and non-essential shops will close.

TfL said the exact amount of money it will get from the ruling Conservative government would be subject to passenger revenue in the coming months.

London mayor Sadiq Khan, from the opposition Labour party, had for weeks been opposing raising fares and making other changes in exchange for the funding boost.

He said it was not "a perfect deal" but that he had succeeded in "killing off the very worst government proposals".

Transport secretary Grant Shapps described the agreement as "fair to taxpayers across the country".

Last month prime minister Boris Johnson claimed TfL was "effectively bankrupted" before the coronavirus pandemic, and proposals to hike charges were "entirely the responsibility" of Khan.

The government pumped £1.6bn into the system in May to restore services and help prevent overcrowding as people returned to work when the first national shutdown was eased.

More For You

rishi-sunak-ai

FILE PHOTO: Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

(Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

AI is already squeezing jobs for young workers, warns Rishi Sunak

  • Rishi Sunak says AI is already reducing entry-level job opportunities for young people
  • Business leaders privately telling him firms can grow without taking on more staff
  • He calls for National Insurance to be scrapped and replaced with taxes on company profits
  • Sunak, now an adviser to Anthropic and Microsoft, warns AI's jobs impact "may be different to previous technology cycles"

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is already making it harder for young people to find work, former prime minister Rishi Sunak has warned, adding that the government needs to act now to stop the problem getting worse.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Sunak said chief executives had been telling him privately that they were confident they could keep expanding their businesses without meaningfully growing their workforces.

Keep ReadingShow less