ARBITER PPP REVIEW A "LOSE-LOSE" DEAL FOR LONDONERS - POPE

12.02.34pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 21st Jun 2007

Responding to the announcement that Metronet have given notice to London Underground that they have invited the PPP arbiter to conduct an Extraordinary Review, in order to recover its claimed significant additional costs on the PPP project, Geoff Pope Liberal Democrat Transport spokesman on the London Assembly said:

"This is a lose - lose situation. London Underground and Metronet will have to abide by the Arbiters findings and face being left to split the billion pound bill between them.

"The only losers in all of this will be London's travelling public who face the prospect of suffering a reduced service for their money and then having to pay higher fares for service that shows little improvement."

Gordon Brown's PPP is proving a disaster for London. Is this really what he wants to leave as a legacy for London as he moves from number 11 to number 10 Downing Street?"