Greater London Assembly Question Time 26th February 2026

The GLA budget is a billion pounds affair. Trivial sums don’t really matter but the West Ham United stadium scandal does empty the pockets of Londoners. It’s a £20m a year debt in the accounts. Keith Prince, Havering’s GLA member, opened the topic – the entire exchange is below – with the Mayor. He didn’t land a blow.

The contract was negotiated by Boris Johnson. It stinks (see Addendum). It’s so bad that an unkind observer might say it was corrupt. Huge losses are paid by the GLA – or, to put it another way: You. The £20m is just under the Havering deficit for 2026-7. That deficit is driving the borough into bankruptcy. £20m is a triviality to GLA accountants but is life-or-death for Havering.

Keith didn’t mention Havering. Nothing at all. The exchange between Keith, the Mayor and the Chief of Staff was too pally, too cosy and too complacent. Keith says – with a straight face – that he endorses Reform UK’s slash and burn attitude towards local government finance. Well, he should have linked the WHU/London stadium stitch-up with Havering’s financial situation. Havering’s wallet is emptying by an annual £500,000+.

The London Stadium was the showpiece of the 2012 Olympics. A national treasure. And now? Its current value is ZERO! NOTHING!

There were mealy-mouthed equivocations. No one cares. Keith was on the right track but didn’t, or couldn’t, follow through. Perhaps, he’s still in thrall to Boris ‘Partygate’ Johnson who negotiated the contract?

Solutions? What one bunch of smart-arse lawyers put together another bunch of smart-arse lawyers can undo. Or, the GLA could use hard ball politics. Naming rights were cited as being an ASPIRATION. But what do we see blazoned across the stadium: WEST HAM UNITED. Do they pay for the privilege? Who knows? Who cares? Have GLA lawyers been to the London Stadium? Do they know what is going on? No, they don’t.

The losses will massively increase if WHU get relegated to the Championship next season. Havering will be under more financial pressure from Boris Johnson’s toxic legacy. Meanwhile WHU pay huge amounts of money on players, most of whom are, or become, hopeless.⁵

London, United Kingdom – November 13, 2024: Stadium of West Ham United Football Club, a professional football club based in Stratford, East London.

The GLA Debate: Keith Prince’s contribution

Keith Prince AM: Thank you, Chair. Good afternoon, Mayor, David, team. Just before I start, I will declare that I am a season ticket holder of the West Ham [United Football Club] Women’s team, just for clarity, because I intend to ask a question relating to West Ham. Mr Mayor, LLDC sold the London Stadium to GLA Holdings. Could you explain the reason for that move, please?

Sir Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London): Firstly, before I ask the Chief of Staff to respond, I hope we are still talking after Sunday. It is a big game on Sunday for both of our teams!

Keith Prince AM: I am very much hoping we will be talking. I will settle for a draw. How about you?

David Bellamy (Mayor’s Chief of Staff): This is part of the transition that took place at LLDC as it reached — we say LLDC is now in its third phase. The first was the run up to the games [2012 Olympics]. The second was the period after the games and then, with so much progress made, it is time to transition. With LLDC becoming a smaller organisation, the conclusion that we reached was that rather than E20 – as it was then called – being a subsidiary of LLDC, in turn a subsidiary of the GLA, it would be better done just to be a standalone company directly underneath the GLA.

Keith Prince AM: I will ask another question of the Mayor, but I am quite happy for you to answer, David. As we know, the deal cost GLA Holdings £1. That reflects the fact that London Stadium makes a significant loss each year. Who is now going to bear the burden of that loss, and what moves have been made to reduce that loss? (see Addendum) As people will be aware, for the last ten years, I have been encouraging LLDC to engage with West Ham in order to find a naming rights sponsor, which most people estimated would be of a value of around £4 million. Because it has not engaged with West Ham and because that deal has not been done so far, one could reasonably presume that it has lost £40 million. Either Mr Mayor or David, will there now be encouragement for the new holding group to engage with West Ham and to have a joint venture in relation to the naming rights? It cannot be done solely by GLA Holdings because of the rules around the Premier League.

David Bellamy (Mayor’s Chief of Staff): In answer to the first part of your question, Assembly Member, in terms of the losses the stadium makes as a consequence of the deal that was done by the previous Mayor, it routes differently. It used to route through LLDC, and it now routes through the GLA Mayor budget but, ultimately, the Mayor’s overall budget has to bear the consequences of that loss. What we do is we work hard to minimise that loss. There are clearly a number of aspects to that. There is the efficient running of the stadium. There are invest-to-save projects. For instance, over the years, we have replaced a lot of the seating in the lower bowl so that it is cheaper to move seats for other events. We have held additional events. There are commercial deals. In terms of naming rights specifically, it is a difficult market. You can see that with some other notable stadiums not having successfully secured naming rights. Any deal has to be one that will work for us and will work for West Ham as well. It is not accurate to say that this is something we have never worked with West Ham on, and there are there are discussions with it going on at the moment and, clearly, we always want to work well with West Ham –

Keith Prince AM: A quick question, please. Also, as part of the scaling down, Mr Mayor, you know that the planning powers have now been returned to Newham. I understand why that is done, but do you think that is sensible? Newham is the fourth worst borough for planning applications. Would that put at risk any developments coming forward?

Sir Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London): Let me just say, it was always the intention to give back to the councils the powers that had been taken from them. There were five boroughs involved in terms of the original LLDC. All of them now have their planning powers back. Do you think it would be wrong if we carried on in perpetuity the planning powers? Each council is in charge of applications in its respective borough.

Minutes – Appendix 2 – Questions to the Mayor.pdf

Addendum: The contract Boris Johnson *negotiated* with West Ham FC

1 Notably, West Ham United pays a relatively modest rent of £3.6 million per season, which covers none of the stadium’s upkeep costs such as heating, cleaning, or maintenance. This situation is compounded by the fact that West Ham retains all ticket revenues and a portion of the catering income, further skewing the financial equation in favour of the club. Source: Report: West Ham’s £20.9m London Stadium Loss Hits Taxpayers Hard | OneFootball see also London Stadium – Wikipedia Obviously there is more. The small matter of a 99 year contract, which Boris ‘Genius’ Johnson managed to saddle your great-grand children with https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/london-assembly-members/bassam-mahfouz/Boris-bombshell-july24

2 The annual loss is £20.9m which the GLA finds out of its budget. Source loc.cit

3 This financial situation has led to the venue’s long-term value being assessed at zero by independent experts, a stark indication of the economic challenges it faces. Source loc.cit

4 All emphases throughout this blog are mine.

5 West Ham United – Record arrivals | Transfermarkt

Greater London Assembly Question Time, 15th January 2026

The Beam Park Station fiasco illustrates the importance of the GLA’s regional role. The proposed station involves multiple agents. Obviously the railway system is impacted with freight trains and the passenger network affected. Timetables across the entire route will need adjusting. Then there is the economics of the station. Will there be enough additional traffic for the extra costs?

Beam Park is a massive regeneration project, which Johnson’s government shunted into oblivion along with the housing. The station is pivotal for 4,000 houses. Havering always misses its GLA housing targets and the houses would be ‘manna from heaven’.² But: No station, No house building. The ultimate Catch-22.

In a surreal bureaucratic moment, a planning application was made for……..A ticket office (November 2025).³ Not a station: Just a ticket office.

Keith Prince used his six minutes allocation at Mayor’s Question Time to raise the Beam Park Station issue.⁴ Amazingly there was an actual discussion. It’s amazing because most questions aren’t questions at all. They’re tetchy, sarcastic or rude comments. The layout of the chamber doesn’t help (see below).

Keith described the impasse: No station, No housing. The Mayor conceded Keith’s point. He said the non-station was “perverse” “ridiculous” and there was a need to, “get this done.” In a moment of joy for democrats, Keith and the Mayor agreed a temporary solution. And the solution was?

Havering’s new SuperLoop service is scheduled to begin in Rainham. Keith proposed Beam Park. The Mayor pounced on this positive proposition. The new service would alleviate part of the problem, though it isn’t a solution. It isn’t a ‘done deal’ but it sounded promising. And this is sharp improvement on the normal negativity of the Mayor’s Question Time.

Notes

1 London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time) | London City Hall Times refer to this webcast

2 Havering faces punishment for failure to reach housing target This is a typical under-shooting and a key reason why so many Havering families are broken up as ‘children’ move to cheap areas in Essex

3 Fresh Planning Application Submitted To Havering Council For Ticket Office For Proposed Beam Park Station. – The Havering Daily

4 From 1 hour 40 to 1:44 The question was: Can you provide an update on the delivery of Beam Park Station? Keith Prince is the GLA councillor for Havering and Redbridge.

Greater London Assembly Question Time, 18th December 2025

John Stuart Mill, the 19^th century philosopher and MP, said “….the Conservatives are the stupidest party….”¹ Obviously a cheap abusive quip doesn’t have resonance 159 years later. Or does it? Romford’s MP thinks Havering should leave London and join Essex. Havering existed before he was born. He’s suffering from pre-natal nostalgia – a new disease – for which there is no cure

Question Time in Havering can be dire, focused on the ultra-parochial. Barry Mugglestone leaps up and down brushing off question after question but still they keep coming. Expectations are higher for the GLA’s elite politicians. Expectations which turn to dust as their questions are read.²

The GLA Question Time is a major monthly event, “….as part of their role to hold the Mayor and other bodies to account.³ All 25 councillors ask the Mayor a question and he is the sole responder. It should be intimidating as he sits alone inside an arc of 25 councillors.

Luckily the Conservatives put him at his ease. This humdinger came from Bromley’s finest councillor, Thomas Turrell: Is the Mayor on the side of Londoners? Turrell was hoping Sadiq Khan would collapse. Maybe he’d say, “No – as a matter of fact I can’t stand Londoners”. Perhaps he’d add, he liked getting on telly and picking up a big salary. John Stuart Mill – Triumphant!

Alessandro Georgiou, another Conservative, piled in with, Are you a good negotiator on behalf of Londoners?⁵What answer was he expecting? This is the sort of probing forensic question a Year 3 Primary School child might ask a Prime Minister who was looking for a caring photo to help his image.

Keith Prince (Reform) asked a question which drew a lengthy answer from the Mayor. Keith asked, What are you doing to improve safety across the TfL network?⁶It turned out, to everyone’s amazement, that the Mayor is dynamic in this respect.

Notes

1 JOHN STUART MILL AND THE CONSERVATIVES.. [To ms EDITOR OF » 28 Oct 1882 » The Spectator Archive

2 (Public Pack)Agenda Item 5 – Questions to the Mayor Agenda Supplement for London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time), 18/12/2025 10:00

3 Questions to the Mayor | London City Hall

4 Question No: 2025/4535

5 Question No: 2025/4326

6 TfL Safety Question No: 2025/4300 You can view the answer and subsequent question here London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time) from 18/12/2025 It’s about 3 minutes long

Havering’s GLA Member: Keith Prince (Reform)

Havering has two important regional issues. The first is the nine-month closure of the Gallows Corner flyover. This is causing local and east London disruption. The second is significant damage to London’s housing strategy. This is the result of the non-funding of Beam Park station by the Treasury.

Keith isn’t interested in Beam Park but is fascinated by Gallows Corner. He has asked Mayor Khan two questions in three months about Gallows Corner (see A & C in the Addendum). Why is this Keith’s priority?

The Gallows Corner fiasco¹ will finish despite repairs making glacial progress. Then the chaos will stop. Keith focuses on Gallows Corner because it’s obvious.

Beam Park is a more challenging. There aren’t easy answers and it’s of critical regional importance. Beam Park’s housing development must have a station built. This looks easy because it doesn’t need new track or a realignment of the east London network. Unfortunately, governments are hypnotised by Treasury orthodoxy. Their grim reductionist thinking means they won’t fund the station. And that means thousands of houses won’t be built. The government’s housing policy is collateral damage to a wrong-headed economic analysis.

Housing is a government priority and Beam Park station will unleash a bonanza.

“….there’s been a mix of recriminations and negotiations about how and why the station, which could serve as many as 20,000 homes, wasn’t authorised to be built.”²

Mayor Khan has approved £32.747m to make Beam Park happen.³ And the Treasury is stalling. Mayor Khan is fighting hard for Beam Park but what is Keith doing?⁴ He asked a question about bus drivers getting hot in their cabins. (see Addendum B).

Question C at the November meeting (see Addendum at 3 hours 20) was developed by Keith who asked for a period of temporary reopening for Christmas. This positive proposal will help traders if implemented. Unfortunately, the principal barrier is Essex and Suffolk Water, which is out of the Mayor’s control.

Keith was directly elected and should be laser focused on critical local issues.

Notes

1 Andrew Rosindell, Boris Johnson and Gallows Corner, 2014-20 – Politics in Havering

2 Delayed Beam Park railway station moves forward with new planning application

3 DD2452 Beam Park Station | London City Hall

4 Margaret Mullane MP for Dagenham and Rainham has been more proactive Beam Park station update – Margaret Mullane

Addendum: Keith Princes questions to the Mayor: Sept-Nov 2025

Gallow’s Corner Question No: 2025/3095 Keith Prince Can you provide an update on TfL’s current timeline for the development project at Gallow’s Corner?¹
Freedom of Speech Question No: 2025/3385 Keith Prince What steps are you taking to ensure Londoners have the right to freedom of speech?²
Gallows Corner (2) Question No: 2025/3693 Keith Prince What consideration have you given to a compensation scheme for businesses at Gallows Corner who have been disrupted by the closure of the flyover and roundabout?³

A (Public Pack)Agenda Item 5 – Questions to the Mayor Agenda Supplement for London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time), 11/09/2025 10:00

B London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time) | London City Hall

C Keith’s question was given a full reply by the Mayor London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time) | London City Hall

Andrew Rosindell: Parliamentary Speech, 7th May 2025

Andrew’s lengthy speech discussed Havering and Greater London. His speech was autobiographical and historical. He began with a long list of Havering’s Essex roots.

Havering is an Essex region with long historic connexions. He cited his home address, St Edward’s church, Essex county cricket club, and the water supply from Essex and Suffolk amongst many other examples.

Andrew outlined the baleful impact of Greater London, which has led to, “60 years of muddle, confusion and constant debate about whether Romford and Havering remain part of Essex or not.”²

Andrew says Havering is paying too much for too little because it’s a London borough. He airily remarked it cost, “…tens of millions of pounds per year.” Andrew didn’t say how much Havering pays, though the data is readily available. Assertions should be supported with facts.

Andrew claimed ULEZ should have been avoided.He believes ULEZ is a ‘Bad Thing’- people with respiratory illnesses probably disagree. Andrew added that his constituents disapproved of Greater London but provided no polling data.

Policing is a major issue. Andrew says Havering suffers as a London borough. He said, “….if you speak to my constituents, they will tell you that they believe Havering residents are in effect subsidising inner London areas…” Amazingly Andrew didn’t remark that Havering, who are bankrupt, pays an additional £1 million to the MetPolice to guarantee local policing.

Leaving London would mean Havering losing the beloved Freedom Pass. Pensioners adore it and they are reliable voters. Andrew wants the Freedom Pass extended to contiguous counties. This means TfL would take control of links into London. TfL will become far larger if Andrew’s proposition is supported, which implies a ‘levy’ on the new areas.Will they be pleased to pay the price?³

Andrew’s heart-felt sincerity came through loud and clear and was praised by the minister, Jim McMahan. He said, “I pay tribute to the hon. Member for championing his area and for the very clear passion that he has for the place he represents.”

Notes

1 Bing Videos and Havering Borough and Essex Devolution – Hansard – UK Parliament

2 All quotes are from the Hansard report of the speech

3 The Freedom Pass isn’t free. Havering pays £8m p.a. for access to the system.

Havering Councillor: Keith Prince (Con: Squirrels Heath)(part one)

Keith is a superstar in Havering’s Town Hall. He’s been a councillor for 32 years in various places. He began his career in Havering, moved to Redbridge becoming Leader of the Council, and then a GLA councillor.¹ He’s still a GLA councillor – he was re-elected in 2021 – with a massive majority. And in May, 2022 was elected as a Havering councillor. What’s going on?

Keith, like all successful politicians, can smell political blood. While campaigning last year he noticed Romford Conservatives weren’t a happy ‘Band of Brothers’. So, he did the obvious thing and seized the opportunity. Damian White was ousted from his seat in Squirrels Heath. He inserted himself into the newly created vacancy and was elected in May, 2022. Keith is simultaneously a GLA and Havering councillor. Maybe he doesn’t believe that being a Havering councillor is time consuming?

Keith has made two rare misjudgments. He thought Havering would be ruled by the Conservatives and he’d be Leader. Now he’s in Sadiq Khan’s GLA and is a councillor with an HRA² Administration in Havering. It’s enough to make a grown man weep.

If Romford Conservatives weren’t a happy ‘Band of Brothers’ in 2021, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like now. And they don’t even have Allowances to keep them interested any more.

Addendum: Register of Interests

Keith’s mentor Boris Johnson, aka The Great White Shark, has taught him to be unworried about trivialities like legal obligations. Keith still hasn’t filled in his Register of Interests, which was due no later than 2^nd June 2022.³

Notes

1 He’s GLA councillor for Havering and Redbridge neatly drawing together the threads of his career.

2 HRA is the Havering Residents’ Association

3 As of 4^th July 2022 Councillor details – Councillor Keith Prince | The London Borough Of Havering

Keith Prince and Havering’s ‘Living in Havering’ magazine, April 2019

Keith Prince is Havering’s¹ Conservative GLA member and was awarded a full page in Havering Council’s taxpayer funded Living in Havering magazine, April 2019.² As he wrote this himself he must believe it puts him in a good light, in which case he’s made a tragic error of judgement. It shows him to be an appallingly ineffective representative for Havering.

Keith’s article begins by quoting himself. “On a daily basis, I fight for the transport upgrades that we so desperately need in Havering.” This is to get the reader in the mood for his dynamism. Even allowing for the hyperbole of a politician on the make, this is ludicrous. Keith was chair of the GLA’s Transport committee in the year 2017- 8. He was a ‘mover and shaker’ but nothing moved or shook, at least not so far as Havering was concerned. Perhaps Redbridge benefited?

Keith, rightly, identifies two major problems in Havering. The ‘perennial’ Gallows Corner fly-over and Ardleigh Green Bridge roadworks. Keith claims to have been ‘banging the drum’ over Gallows Corner. Well I went through the papers for his year as chair and found nothing.³ Perhaps I missed something- “a drum being banged” “…TfL’s feet being held to the fire”- for example.

Keith has moved out of the shadows with this article. In broad daylight he looks ineffective. Now he has a motive for improving his performance. He’s got two weeks before the next election, which in a Johnson sleaze atmosphere might be bracing.

1 Strictly speaking he is Havering and Redbridge’s GLA member. So perhaps he’s putting in more time on their problems to Havering’s detriment

2 https://issuu.com/haveringcouncil/docs/5617_living_185_issuu_ p18 This full page ‘advert’ would normally cost £1400.

3 All I could find was an exchange between Mayor Johnson and Roger Evans, Havering’s previous GLA member, on the 22^nd October 2014, where Johnson promised to come to Havering to look for himself. Evans grovelled to Johnson in an entertaining way.