{"id":11897,"date":"2017-03-27T17:47:54","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T16:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11897"},"modified":"2017-03-28T10:53:46","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T09:53:46","slug":"uber-lobbying-inquiry-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11897","title":{"rendered":"Uber lobbying inquiry call"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Black cab drivers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 union, Unite, today (March 27, 2017) echoed calls for an inquiry into links between senior Conservative figures and Uber and their role in lobbying against tighter private taxi hire regulation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The call follows accusations of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098cover up\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 amid reports that ex-prime minister David Cameron and George Osborne allegedly told aides to lobby Boris Johnson against curbs on the online taxi firm Uber when he was Mayor of London.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">According to reports Downing Street failed to give details of an alleged \u00e2\u20ac\u0098lobbying operation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 when asked to do so under freedom of information laws last year.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Unite also called for the deregulation act to be scrapped. The act allows private hire and Uber drivers to be licenced by one licensing authority, such as TfL and free to operate anywhere in England and Wales.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Commenting Mike Hedges chair of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cab section said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere needs to be a full inquiry into what appears to be an \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Uber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lobbying effort by senior Conservative figures on behalf of the taxi app. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe whole affair raises serious questions over the deregulation act which was passed on David Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s watch, when George Osborne was chancellor and Boris Johnson was Mayor of London.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe deregulation act effectively leaves Uber drivers licenced in London free to operate anywhere in England and Wales unknown to the local licensing authority.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He concluded, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis freedom to operate without any checks and balances needs to end and a cap on the number of private hire drivers taking to streets needs to be seriously considered.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Black cab drivers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 union, Unite, today (March 27, 2017) echoed calls for an inquiry into links between senior Conservative figures and Uber and their role in lobbying against tighter private taxi hire regulation. &nbsp; The call follows accusations of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098cover up\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 amid reports that ex-prime minister David Cameron and George Osborne allegedly told aides [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[365,33,718],"wps_subtitle":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Serious questions\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 over de-reg Act raised","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11898,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11897\/revisions\/11898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}