London mayor says Boris Johnson overruled him and still wants “business as usual”
The mayor of London has claimed that the prime minister overruled him after he called for the closure of construction sites in the capital.
Sadiq Khan said that, during a meeting of the government’s emergency COBRA committee, he argued that construction workers should not be going to work unless it was for safety reasons.
Speaking to LBC, the mayor said: “I was over-ruled by the PM, who doesn’t believe that construction workers should be at home. The prime minister believes construction workers should be going to work and that they can do it safely.”
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Asked what reason the government had for wishing to keep sites open, Khan claimed ministers wanted to see “business as usual” continuing as much as possible.
He continued: “What I think has not landed is the fact that we face not just a social and economic crisis but a public health crisis. I think it’s inexplicable.”
This morning all TFL and Crossrail sites were closed, with Khan telling LBC: “We have currently in TFL 30% of our staff who are sick because of coronavirus or self-isolating.”
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