The Tory candidate for London mayor, Steven Norris, plans to remove tube workers' right to strike and axe jobs in a bid to woo voters, he has revealed.
Mr Norris was speaking to SocietyGuardian.co.uk on his prospects in next June's London mayoral election, and described his commitment to take on London transport staff as a definite "strength" of his campaign.
He said Londoners were entitled to see their underground system turned into a strike-free zone.
"I believe we should have a negotiated no strike agreement, giving staff proper and fair protections as the price for giving up the right to strike," he added.
He also pledged to reduce the rising costs of running the expanded fleet of buses introduced by the present mayor, Ken Livingstone, by axing jobs.
His comments pre-empted claims by the Tory London assembly members earlier today that Ken Livingstone's long-term transport plans will require extra funds from government.
"There is a huge amount of cost savings we can take out of buses - savings in operational and staffing terms, running in to hundreds and millions a year, " Mr Norris said.
He also made clear his intention to remove Bob Crow, the general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, from the transport board - from which Mr Norris was removed by Ken Livingstone because of his business transport interests.
"Bob Crow sits at Ken Livingstone's invitation on the board of Transport for London," he said. "Talk about being literally a judge and prosecution advocate."
But Mr Norris is under no illusion that unions will fight hard to retain Ken Livingstone as mayor, and said he will have no qualms in making political capital out of the financial contributions unions are expected to make to the incumbent mayor's election campaign.
"They know a sap when they see one. They will want to keep Ken exactly where he is," he said.
Mr Norris was more sanguine about his own links with outside interests, dismissing claims that his chances are dead in the water following his decision to stand-in as interim chairman of Jarvis, one of the most controversial private transport firms, which presently runs part of London Underground.
Voters who take issue with his private interests should "get a life", he said. "Go and vote for somebody else who has never had a sensible job in their life."
He admitted Jarvis could be left out in the cold, if he is elected as mayor. Citing the "theoretical" possibility of Jarvis bidding for a London contract against an equally strong competitor, he said: "A mayor would make a decision in favour of a company they were not linked to, rather than one they [were]."
With the certain prospect of Ken Livingstone becoming the official Labour party candidate, Mr Norris tactically interprets the mayoral bid as "presidential" rather than residing firmly within the realm of party politics.
"This is not elect Labour," he said. "This is elect Ken Livingstone. When you cast your vote you are voting for a single individual which is why there are more crossover votes."
Mr Norris, who models his vision for mayor on ex-New York mayor, Rudi Giuliani, said he would copy the American's successful strategy to tackle low level "quality of life" crime to reassure city dwellers that the police was not too busy to respond to their everyday concerns.
Speaking of Mr Giuliani's zero tolerance for crime, he said: "There were a hundred years of mayors in New York who said you can't do it and Giuliani said you can and just did."
Mr Norris said he would invest more in youth crime prevention but weigh heavily on those who broke the law.
"In New York they started on squeegy merchants," he said. "It was a visible manifestation about the law just being ignored and that nobody cared."
Mr Norris also committed himself to visit each of the 33 London boroughs if he is elected, following his criticism earlier this week that Ken Livingstone had simply avoided visiting certain outer London boroughs altogether.
Mr Livingstone refuted his accusations saying he had visited all London boroughs since becoming mayor in 2000.
"If you do not go and see issues for yourself you are really are not in a position to make priority judgement that you need to make," he said.
