Up to a quarter of a million Londoners are today eligible for half-price bus and tram travel as Ken Livingstone's Venezuelan oil deal finally went live.

The travel scheme, worth up to £280 a year for everyone on income support, follows an agreement by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to give the capital discounted fuel for its bus fleet.

In return for the 20 per cent discount on oil, Venezuela will get City Hall expertise in public transport and tourism provided free of charge.

The launch of the scheme has been shrouded in secrecy but the Standard can reveal that it becomes operational today.

Londoners on income support will have to take proof of their status to a post office to get a special photocard for a discounted Oystercard.

[ 22 August 2007: Message edited by: Geneva ]

quote:

---

Tories have criticised the idea as a classic piece of "Red Ken" gesture politics and have said that a country like Venezuela would do better to use such discounts on its own people.

---

This must be the first time for Conservatives to argue that helping poor people in developing coutries is more important than helping poor people in Britain. Hugo Chavez is turning Tories into leftist radicals. What a laugh. It's amusing as hell to see these Conservatives jump through ideological hoops in an effort to put a negative spin on this.

quote:

---

"para mí es un crimen que en un país con hambre, con crimen, desempleo, servicios públicos deteriorados, que el Gobierno esté regalando nuestra riqueza".

"Tanto la persona que regala los recursos como quien los recibe son pecadores", señaló Rosales. "Éticamente, el señor Livingstone no debería aceptar esta donación. En nombre de Venezuela, yo le solicito que no nos arruine más. Si Londres necesitara el petróleo barato, sería otra cosa, pero hablamos de Londres, una de las ciudades más ricas del mundo".

El rotativo británico destaca que 38% de los venezolanos viven en pobreza, y que 18% de la población sufrió de malnutrición en 2003.

---

According to opposition leader Manuel Rosales at a London press Conference:

"For me it is a crime that in a country with hunger, with crime, with unemployment, and with its own public services deteriorated, the Government gives away our natural resources."

....

"Ethically, Mr. Livingstone shouldn't accept this donation. In the name of Venezuela, I beg of him not to continue destroying us. If London needed cheap petroleum, that would be one thing; but we are talking about London, one of the richest cities in the world."

quote:

---

Pogo: It wasn't a gift, Venezuela is getting something in return also.

---

Agreed. It's a kind of "trade" that the Chavez government has been doing a lot of: cheap oil for medical and dental treatment for poor people; now this example; more to follow no doubt. Chavez may be looking at improving public transit and helping to reduce domestic oil consumption, make people more mobile, etc.