Mayor and Adonis clash over £1.4billion Tube funding crisis

BORIS Johnson today launched a ferocious attack on the Government for refusing to stump up more money for the Tube upgrade.

The Mayor accused ministers of failing in their "duty and moral responsibility" by ruling out extra money to plug a funding gap of at least £1.4 billion.

His attack came after transport minister Lord Adonis publicly rejected a plea for extra cash, saying Transport for London had already been allocated a £40 billion grant for funding from 2010 to 2017. "We don't accept that TfL does not have the money," the peer said.

But Mr Johnson said the cost of improving the Northern, Jubilee and Piccadilly lines could rise more than had been forecast and warned of "contractual problems" with Tube Lines, which looks after the three lines.

The private sector consortium says it needs an extra £1.4 billion to complete work by 2017.

Mr Johnson claimed that the way the Government had imposed the Public Private Partnership on the Tube would lead to future problems. "[It is] vital that the inventors of the PPP structure, they know where they are, take responsibility for their creature and what matters is the outcome," he said.

Direct appeals to Chancellor Alistair Darling for extra cash have fallen on deaf ears. Asked whether more money would be available from the Treasury, Lord Adonis said: "No."

A spokesman for Mr Johnson's office responded: "The Mayor cannot believe the Government's determination to bury its head in the sand and ignore the financial outcomes of the PPP arrangements it foisted upon the capital.

"Londoners know that the Government has a duty and a moral responsibility to meet the funding gap that has resulted from its mistakes."

The clash highlights concerns that TfL will struggle to find the funds it has committed to both the Tube upgrade and the £16 billion Crossrail scheme. Ministers are still in talks to secure hundreds of millions from the private sector for the cross-London rail project.

Lord Adonis rejected a suggestion from Underground chief Tim O'Toole that the Tube improvements were more important than Crossrail.
He also reportedly said Mr Johnson had asked for the construction of the new rail line — due to open in 2017 — to be speeded up. But the Mayor's office played down this claim. "At a recent meeting with Geoff Hoon the Mayor noted reports in the media that the Chancellor would like to bring construction of Crossrail forward if possible," said a spokesman.

Mr Johnson said the huge drilling machines used for Crossrail's twin bore tunnels could be used to extend the Underground: "If we are going to buy these new tunnelling machines, as we are, why not see if we can use them to dig south of the river and expand the Tube network there?"