London's new mayor says oil deal struck with Venezuela will be scrapped

[bijou]

The British capital's new mayor, Boris Johnson, said Sunday he was ending a controversial deal that has provided cheap Venezuelan fuel for London's transport network.

The agreement, signed last year by the Conservative Johnson's predecessor and Labour Party rival, Ken Livingstone, provided discounted oil for London's iconic red buses in exchange for advice on urban planning in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

Money saved on the oil — estimated last year to amount to 16 million pounds (US$32 million; €20 million) — was put into a program providing half-rate bus fares for 250,000 low-income Londoners. Livingstone said the anti-poverty initiative was the idea of Venezuela's left-wing leader, Hugo Chavez, whom Livingstone said he has long admired.

Conservative critics said the deal allowed one of the world's richest cities to exploit a lesser developed country and handed a propaganda coup to a man they called "a third-rate South American dictator."

Johnson echoed those criticisms in a statement announcing he would not renew the agreement when it expires in August.

"I think many Londoners felt uncomfortable about the bus operation of one of the world's financial powerhouses being funded by the people of a country where many people live in extreme poverty," he said, adding that he had already begun closing the office in Caracas created to oversee the deal.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/25/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Venezuela-Oil.php

W00t for our Conservative Mayor!