Adam has assembled the hard facts:
In Boris Johnson's election manifesto he promised to fund one existing rape crisis centre and three new rape crisis centres in the capital. The centres would be funded "immediately" to the tune of £744,000 each year...This would have been a big improvement on the situation left by the current government and by the previous administration at City Hall. Unfortunately this has not happened.
Adam calculates that the Mayor is spending £619,000 less this year than promised, falling to £489,000 less by the end of his term. Read his post in full for all the details. After that, ponder this quote from Lee Eggleston, chairwoman of Rape Crisis published in the Ealing Times:
We are delighted that the Mayor's office has taken the initiative to address the historic under-funding of Rape Crisis provision in London. We look forward to working with the GLA on the further development of Rape Crisis services across the capital to ensure that all women and girls who have experienced sexual violence are able to access the full range of high quality independent specialist support that affiliated groups provide.
Boris claims he's doubling rape crisis provision. This, of course, is putting a positive spin on a failure to keep a manifesto promise. The Mayor is, however, in a position to continue arguing that he's doing better than "the last bloke". His video is a masterly attempt to sweetly remind his critics that something is better than nothing. And if those critics aren't appeased, others will be. Is that glass half full or half empty? You decide.
