Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Chair of Transport for London (TfL) has been summonsed to appear before the London Assembly Transport Committee, to answer questions on the Crossrail delay.
This is the first time the Transport Committee has used its powers to summons the Mayor, Sadiq Khan.
In line with the Assembly’s statutory scrutiny role and following its ongoing interest in the Crossrail project, the Transport Committee has issued a summons notice requiring Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in his capacity as Chairman of Transport for London (TfL), and Mike Brown MVO, TfL Commissioner, to attend an Extraordinary meeting of the Transport Committee meeting on Friday, 21 December 2018 at 10am.
The Chairman of Crossrail, Sir Terry Morgan CBE, has also been invited to the Extraordinary meeting.
The summons is in response to conflicting statements from the Mayor and the Chairman of Crossrail, Sir Terry Morgan, about who knew what and when regarding the delayed launch of Crossrail.
Documents including briefings given to the Mayor earlier this year about a possible delay to the project have also been summonsed from the Mayor, as Chair of TfL, Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor for Transport and David Bellamy, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff.
Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM, Chair of the Transport Committee said:
“We are bitterly disappointed that this action is necessary.
“The Transport Committee and the public have put their trust in the Mayor that there will be transparency during his administration and he has a duty to make sure this is the case.
“However, in recent weeks and months it has become increasingly clear that when it comes to the Crossrail project he is doing the opposite.
“The Mayor must come clean about when he knew about the Crossrail delay. It is essential for the sake of public trust and London democracy.
“The Committee has used its power to summons the Mayor of London as Chair of TfL and key documents in order to give him a final chance to tell the truth and clear up this sorry mess.”