Tube handover date announced at long last

4.22.34pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 4th Jun 2003

Lynne Featherstone, Lib Dem chair of the London Assembly's transport committee, welcomed the announcement by the Government this afternoon that London Underground would be handed over to Mayor Ken Livingstone on 15 July.

"Finally, the people of London will get some control over their Tube. But it should have happened a long time ago. This important step in improving services has been held up by the Mayor of London's legal moves and the Government's stick-in-the-mud attitude towards giving up control over the Underground's operation."

"We shall use to the full our unique legal powers to ensure independent monitoring of the Mayor's running of the Tube. If the service does not show some improvements in the short term, and significant gains over a longer timescale, we shall be demanding to know why Londoners are still not getting the tube they deserve."