Ken Livingstone Battle Bus in Hammersmith

Ken Livingstone will be in Hammersmith this afternoon with all the whizz bangs you would imagine at the height of an electoral campaign which is still neck and neck. Ken and the bus he calls the Fare Deal Express are visiting all 32 London boroughs over two weeks with the message 'you're better off with Ken', highlighting the Labour candidate’s key pledges to ease the squeeze on ordinary Londoners.

Specifically, he promises an across the board fares cut which he says will be worth over £1,000 to every Londoner. 

The bus, balloons and the man himself will be at Lyric Square at 12.00 today, just in time to hit the lunchtime run in Hammersmith. Lucky, lucky shoppers.


 1400 UPDATE - Well, Ken came, he saw, and he tried to conquer! Actually he used this stop to launch a new pledge, packaged as a "voucher" for voters, pictured above,  to cut what he says will be over £1,000 from all of our annual fare bills. Here's what he had to say:

“I make no apology for the fact that the focus of my transport policy is to make it cheaper for Londoners to get around. This election is a referendum on who will make Londoners ‘better off’. Under my Fare Deal, the average fare payer will save £1,000 over the next four years - many will save much more.

‘Today I am launching my ‘London Travel Voucher’. I am saying to Londoners – keep hold of this voucher so that you have physical evidence of my promise to cut your fares. The voucher will be available online from today, but will only be valid if I am elected as Mayor on 3 May. Londoners who want to save £1,000 need to use their vote to cut fares.


‘Under Boris Johnson, millions of Londoners have been hit in their pockets and purses by the rising cost of living. I recognise the squeeze Londoners are feeling and alongside my fare cut I will freeze the Congestion Charge for 4 years and protect the Freedom Pass from age 60.” 


Ken then went on to buy himself a pasty in Hammersmith, from a stall on a sunny Lyric Square, before referring not just to the national story on the VAT rise on pasties introduced in the budget but also our very own fight in Shepherd's Bush to save A Cooke's Pie & Mash from H&F Council.


 Ken said:
"Like most Londoners I can't understand why the Tories want to introduce a new tax on pies - putting 20% on the cost of pasties and sausage rolls .

'London is famous around the world for pie and mash. We have some fantastic pie and mash shops in London from Romford to Shepherds Bush - I believe we have the best pies in the world.

'Thousands of Londoners work in the catering industry - why do the Tories want threaten their jobs? If Boris Johnson won't stand up for London on this issue I will."
When I last interviewed Ken, during his visit to Cooke's Pie & Mash, he said much the same then. Traders and shopowners in Shepherd's Bush who want to save this aspect of the Bush now know who to vote for. 

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