In a letter to Hertfordshire and Watford Councils London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has confirmed that he has not abandoned the MLX and wants it to go ahead if the funding issue can be resolved.
Local Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians have been attacking Sadiq Khan wrongly claiming that he had scrapped the MLX project.
Jagtar Singh Dhindsa, Watford Labour’s mayoral candidate said, “This vindicates Labour’s position of dialogue. We have been in regular touch with the London Mayor’s office and obtained assurances that the MLX scheme would be protected whilst a way out of the impasse is negotiated.
“If I am elected Mayor of Watford it will be my priority to meet with Sadiq and government ministers to get this scheme back on track! The Tories and Lib Dems with their politically motivated attacks have lost any credibility on this issue. A Labour mayor has the best chance of delivering MLX for Watford”
In his letter Sadiq says that he has not withdrawn support for the scheme and is keen to see it go ahead. He has promised that Transport for London will deliver the scheme if agreement can be reached on an alternative funding package.
The Government removed its entire £700 million a year grant to TFL. Last year the TFL operating loss was £1 billion. It has no source of funding to carry the risk of overspend on MLX as stated by Sadiq Khan in his letter.
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