Sadiq Khan thinks Brexit is a bigger risk than Covid

Sadiq Khan's City Hall rated Brexit as a bigger risk to London than coronavirus two weeks before the country went into lockdown.

Internal risk assessments for the Greater London Authority showed that Britain leaving the EU was rated as a bigger issue than the health crisis gripping the nation back in March.

The corporate risk register - which gives a series of ratings based on the possible impact and the likelihood to happen - had Brexit, housing supply and the London Plan as its top risks. Not coronavirus.

The plans, which were rubber stamped on March 10, came into force just eight days before schools closed, and a fortnight before the country went into a full lockdown.

Susan Hall, Leader of the GLA Conservatives, commented: "Sadiq Khan's administration at City Hall clearly hasn't understood the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. It's shocking that thirteen days before the country went into lockdown, City Hall thought that Brexit was a bigger risk to London than coronavirus. Worse still, they haven't even updated this vital risk assessment to recognise the huge threat this cruel virus still poses to our city.

 "Instead of obsessing about Brexit, Sadiq Khan should be laser-focused on keeping Londoners safe. City Hall's failure to understand the risk of this pandemic helps to explain Khan's appalling handling of this crisis. It took the Mayor seven weeks to provide TfL staff with face masks, the Government had to order him to increase Tube capacity to stop dangerous overcrowding, and now it turns out TfL has told bus drivers not to enforce the mandatory face-covering rule on public transport. 

 "Sadiq Khan has regularly failed to provide London with leadership, but he has gone completely missing during this crisis. The Mayor needs to get his priorities right, end his Brexit obsession, and put Londoners' safety above all else."