London Banter - Crossrail could be cancelled !

On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:35:08 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T
wrote:
On Apr 15, 4:02*pm, " wrote:
The Tories could scrap it !
[long link to Google News results snipped]

These stories are the result of a comment by Justine Greening, the
Tories shadow minister for London, on LBC radio this morning - she
said "I can't give a guarantee that it will continue."

The segment, from Nick Ferrari's radio show, can be heard here (four
mins long in total):
http://www.lbc.co.uk/no-promise-on-c...tell-lbc-23231

Conservative policy states they will "Support Crossrail", but that
simple statement is arguably open to a variety of interpretations -
see:
http://www.conservatives.com/Policy/...Transport.aspx

It is only right that the incoming government, of whatever political
hue, should have a chance to "look at the books" before deciding
whether to continue with Crossrail.

Shamefully, Brown's government did not carry out a Comprehensive
Spending Review even though one was due. This callous omission was
made specifically to keep the electorate in the dark about the
severity of the measures that will be needed to rebalance public
spending versus tax revenue over the medium term. That's why there is
so little in the Labour Manifesto about what public spending cuts will
be necessary; Labour would like voters to think there won't be any.

The Conservatives are equally in the dark, which is why there is so
little in the *their* Manifesto about public spending cuts. If they
form the next government, which is of course far from certain, there
would need to be a quick decision to go for a Comprehensive Spending
Review, which will take several months to complete. Only then can a
full picture be formed of the state of the economy and, by
implication, whether Crossrail can proceed.

So far, only Crossrail enabling works and portal contracts have been
let. I believe the main tunnelling contracts are out to tender and
bids are due back in a couple of months. Bids will probably be
evaluated by the time the results of the Comprehensive Spending Review
are available, and that will be decision time.