BORIS Johnson today pledged to make London's streets safer as he embarked on his first full week as the capital's new Mayor.
The triumphant Tory headed to east London to watch youngsters put their fire fighting skills to the test at Dagenham Fire Station.
Mr Johnson narrowly missed being sprayed with water as he witnessed the 14 teenagers hose down a five-storey smoking building for the "towering inferno" exercise.
The group were taking part in one of the London Fire Brigade's five day Local Intervention Fire Education (LIFE) courses aimed at teaching young people aged 13-17 essential skills through fire fighting training.
The Mayor was flanked by Ray Lewis, his newly appointed Deputy Mayor for Young People during the visit.
Emerging from the station's mobile classroom after watching a video on the effects of hoax calls, Mr Johnson threw his weight behind the scheme.
He said: "The kids are learning discipline and teamwork trying to get that python of a hose up the building. This is exactly the type of thing the Mayor's Fund should be supporting."
Crime, he declared, would be a major focus for his new administration, arguing that such initiatives involving young people could help tackle the issue in the long term.
He said: "Crime is a huge concern for Londoners. I am going to work night and day to make this capital safer. We've got to get more police on the streets, championing them against the bureaucracy which oppresses them."
He added he would also look at red tape issues and levels of council tax in his future dealings with the capital's boroughs.
He said: "I am not promising immediate cuts, but I will bear down on waste and extravagance."
Mr Johnson played down any talk of tension in the hand over at City Hall and promised to build on his predecessor's legacy.
He said: "I am going to be talking to the staff later on making a very simple point. The differences between me and the previous mayor have been greatly exaggerated. We do have differences in our political philosophies, but that does not mean there are not areas of common ground. I will do my best to work with the people at City Hall."
Mr Lewis said he wanted to utilise his previous experience working with young offenders to help formulate policy alongside the new mayor.
He said: "I promise to listen to the youth of London, give the youth of London a voice, raising aspirations and engaging young people in positive activities."
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Boris vows to make streets safer
May 06, 2008
Showing comments 1 to 11 and replies | View All
Proud Mancunian (06/05/2008 at 15:19)
Whats our mayor doing?
alvinlwh (06/05/2008 at 16:38)
Mark, South Manchester (06/05/2008 at 19:26)
Hamish Macbeth, Whitefield (06/05/2008 at 22:10)
Connor Fitzgerald (07/05/2008 at 07:51)
Remember, what happens in London today, happens else where tomorrow!
Congestion Charge an example.
Maybe you should keep an eye on what 'Boris the Blunderer' does in London.
It could give you fair warning for the future!
Octavius Tinsworth Ace (07/05/2008 at 09:29)
However, I would argue that Manchester needs its own mayor. London has three different bodies looking after its interests: the mayor, the various boroughs and -- because of the excessively centralized nature of our country's administration -- central government. Manchester, on the other hand, has Manchester City Council and that's more or less it. Clearly London has an unfair advantage, not that it doesn't have one already after literally centuries of London-centric government policies.
I simply cannot believe that anyone in Manchester can oppose the concept of an elected mayor for the city, yet according to the poll on this site, 37% do. The sooner Manchester gets its own elected mayor and certain government departments are relocated to the region (which I seem to remember was promised some time ago), the sooner it will be on something approaching an even footing with London.
Black Sabbath (07/05/2008 at 10:09)
If it brings an end to the "I'll vote Labour as my father/grandfather/great grandfather did!" mentality so prevalent here then I am all for it.
Roger Jones's P45 (formerly MC Spanner) (07/05/2008 at 10:29)
I am one of the 37%. Your illustration of government for London shows three layers of Politicians. There is a fourth layer of the London Assembly and countless Quangos such as London Votes, Transport for London, the London Development Agency/Authority, Design for London etc. and not forgetting to 2012 the ODA. I believe that there are too many people involved in governing our lives and I would not want aa additional directly elected mayor who then has too much power to govern like Ken did for eight years and Boris has now. Boris is going to make lots of people redundant and that lack of stability is not good for governance.
Nationally a report came out on Feb 14th stating that residents of
Westminster, Camden, Islington and Kensington & Chelsea has more Quango members than all of those living in the North of England. This needs addressing
The heart of the problem is not the election of a mayor but the representiveness and fairness of government combined with the waste of resources.
Octavius Tinsworth Ace (07/05/2008 at 10:52)
The number of quangos in London is indeed truly absurd and the amount of money that must be wasted in employing people to run them and in negotiations between these bodies is sickening. A lot of them appear to overlap in terms of the interests they serve, too. I would wager that that is one of the reasons any major project in London inevitably eventually costs three or four times initial projections. Frustratingly, the entire country suffers as a result.
However, the mayor is a figurehead and wields genuine authority on a wide range of issues. An elected mayor in Manchester would not necessarily have to be accompanied by the old-school-cronies-driven quangos.
Roger Jones's P45 (formerly MC Spanner) (07/05/2008 at 11:25)
Granted - You do not need the old bodies.
I suppose I am selfish. I live in leafy Tory Bury. I like it there and Bury, Trafford, Stockport & Bolton soon will block the Con Charge. Thus a significant minority (40%) have the power to veto a negative change.
Under a Mayor, one man has the power to impose said charge as has happened in London. That Mayor could be voted for by less than 50% of the borough and given the electoral make up of Manchester, it will almost certainly be a Labour Mayor. If not Labour, then Liberal who then side with Labour. As a Centrist that bothers me and that is why I am not keen on the idea.
With the current council set up we get to vote every year (almost) so it sends a regular message to the Councillors. As you can see from London, Ken thought he was invincible and it took four years to remove him.
Octavius Tinsworth Ace (07/05/2008 at 11:52)
I'm not in the slightest bit bothered about whether the mayor is Labour; it's about what's best for the city. I've never been one to vote for one particular party stubbornly throughout my life (although I've voted Labour in the last three general elections). To be perfectly honest, I'd prefer it if a prospective mayoral candidate were not affiliated to a party at all and could therefore be judged on what he/she can bring to the table.