Just imagine if Boris had sacked 45,000 workers

JUsT imagine if a Tory mayor had announced, in the middle of a General election campaign, that he was sacking 45,000 low-paid, predominantly immigrant workers. And scrapping a popular transport service used regularly by 3.5million people. There would be all hell to pay. Labour and the unions would be screaming blue murder.

But that’s precisely what Labour Mayor sadiq Khan’s Transport for London (TfL) has done by revoking Uber’s licence to operate. Unless the company can overturn the ruling on appeal, 45,000 drivers will be put out of work before Christmas and millions of Londoners will have to find other, less convenient, ways of getting around.

Let me make it clear before we go any further that I am full of admiration for my friends in the licensed taxi trade and would always choose a black cab over an Uber in Central London.

Traditional cabbies are an essential and valuable part of the fabric of the city, not only for the safe, reliable service they provide but also because of the generous support they give charities for ex-servicemen and disabled children.

But outside the central area, black cabs are few and far between and Uber offers a relatively cheap, convenient alternative to overcrowded public transport and hit-and-miss local minicab firms.

Yes, I understand there are genuine safety and security concerns over some Uber drivers. If it is true that 14,000 journeys have been made with uninsured and unlicensed drivers, the problem has to be addressed urgently.

Those rogue drivers must be tracked down and weeded out, which is what Uber maintains is happening. The company insists background checks and safety precautions have been tightened up over the past two years.

There have regrettably been a handful of sexual assaults by Uber drivers, some of whom have been prosecuted and convicted.

But that’s no justification for punishing tens of thousands of blameless individuals who rely on Uber for their income.

TfL quite rightly didn’t shut down the licensed taxi trade because of the crimes of the notorious black cab rapist John Worboys, who drugged and sexually assaulted 100 women passengers.

And in other cities, minicab drivers have been found guilty of ferrying around under-age girls being abused by grooming gangs. But that hasn’t led to all taxis being banned from the streets.

I can understand cabbies who have devoted years to learning their trade — in London studying hard for ‘The Knowledge’ to gain their licence — being worried about the threat posed to their livelihood by Uber. That’s why I support them whenever I can.

As I said, in town I’ll take a black cab. But I do occasionally use Uber locally, for short journeys in North London, and I don’t have any complaints.

Certainly, it’s a vast improvement on old-style minicab firms, some of which still seem to operate like the cowboy outfit Public eye’s Alfred Burke ran in an early series of Minder. Car 54, where are you? P.O.B. At least you can tell from the

Uber app when your cab will be arriving and how much it will cost. I’ve lost count over the years of the number of times I’ve ordered a minicab only to be left wondering what the hell has happened to it, or whether it will turn up at all.

When I’ve rung up to ask where it is, the stock answer is always: ‘he’s just turning in to your road now.’ No, he isn’t. Look I’m not an apologist for Uber, but I am a realist. You can’t uninvent technology. And there can be no argument that Uber has put taxi travel in reach of those, particularly the young, who couldn’t afford it before.

If Khan succeeds in stopping Uber from operating in London, he can expect a backlash from legions of millennials, currently smitten by o.J. Corbyn, who expect everything to be available instantly via a swipe of the screen on their phones.

Which brings me back to where we came in. If this had happened under Boris Johnson, when he was London’s Conservative mayor, Khan and Labour would be squealing like stuck pigs.

The majority of Uber’s drivers, from what I can gather, seem to be fairly recent arrivals from overseas. some have invested heavily in buying, or leasing, their cars.

how are they supposed to service those debts if they are prevented from working?

In other circumstances — i.e. if Boris had done it — the Left would be hollering ‘RAY-CIsT’ and accusing the heartless Tories of targeting vulnerable migrants.

sentimental Labour politicians become agitated over the loss of a few hundred jobs in a clapped-out steelworks, but appear to be fairly relaxed about 45,000 private minicab drivers being thrown out of work in the run-up to Christmas.

That’s probably because Khan and TfL are sticking it to a hated multinational.

UBeR has been in Khan’s sights ever since he became mayor. It’s not just the reservations of the traditional taxi trade. he’s also under intense pressure from Labour’s paymasters in the trades unions.

The TUC loathes the ‘gig’ economy, which gives people the freedom to pick and choose when and where they work.

They want everyone to be treated as a full-time employee and encouraged, if not compelled, to join a union. That way they can force seventies-style collective bargaining on fast-moving tech companies such as Uber.

If Labour somehow manages to form a government after this election, it won’t just be London.

The Corbynistas will drive Uber, and a whole host of other multinational companies, out of Britain altogether.

The 45,000 lost Uber jobs will be the shape of things to come. Being unable to get a cab home will be the least of our worries.

Taxi!