Chris Grayling blames Sadiq Khan's fare freezes on TfL money issues

Chris Grayling: 'The problem with a fares freeze is that you build a long-term and growing underlying problem within your own finances'
Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images
James Morris22 October 2018

Transport secretary Chris Grayling has blamed Sadiq Khan for Transport for London’s (TfL) “deep financial difficulties”.

Mr Grayling pinned the mayor of London’s partial fare freezes on TfL’s continuing monetary issues. It is planning for a near £1million operating deficit in 2018/19.

He highlighted the organisation’s finances when asked on Monday whether the Department for Transport has considered stopping next year's annual increase in the cost of national rail travel.

Mr Grayling told the cross-party Commons transport select committee to "look at what's happened to Transport for London now with their partial freeze".

Sadiq Khan is facing huge problems with TfL's finances
Yui Mok/PA

He went on: "Transport for London is in deep financial difficulties at the moment and not simply because of the challenges of Crossrail.

"The problem with a fares freeze - if your costs continue to go up every year, if you're continuing to pay more to your staff - is that you build a long-term and growing underlying problem within your own finances.

"Over a period of time you are sucking a cumulatively larger and larger amount out of the money available to run the network. The only way of counteracting that is people who don't travel on the railways have to pay more and more in taxes."

The decision by Mr Khan to freeze single fares is expected to cost the transport body £640 million over four years.

But a City Hall spokeswoman hit back: "Sadiq makes no apologies for freezing TfL fares for four years and introducing the unlimited Hopper bus fare after fares rose by 42 per cent under the previous mayor.

"The fares freeze is helping protect passenger numbers on the TfL network - which are falling much faster across the rest of the UK - and pales into insignificance next to the £700 million per year of government cuts to the TfL grant.”

A reduction in passenger numbers has also hit TfL's revenues.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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