The Smoke — City HallEvery story filed by Priya Shah, who covers the Mayor, the GLA and the London Assembly — Mayor's Questions, mayoral decisions and City Hall's budgets.https://thesmoke.london/en-gbGLA logged the £58.7m retrofit money in April, three months before the announcementhttps://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-gla-logged-the-58-7m-retrofit-money-in-april-three-months-be/https://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-gla-logged-the-58-7m-retrofit-money-in-april-three-months-be/The same allocations table carries no line for the £18m of skills money in the Mayor's July AI package.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:50:24 GMTCity HallMayor's £30m AI and jobs package carries £12m announced the month beforehttps://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-mayor-s-30m-ai-and-jobs-package-carries-12m-announced-the-mo/https://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-mayor-s-30m-ai-and-jobs-package-carries-12m-announced-the-mo/The GLA's decisions register logs one taskforce decision, worth £70,000, and nothing authorising the £18m of new money.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 11:04:51 GMTCity HallMayor allocates £58.7m to retrofit up to 5,000 social homes in Londonhttps://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-mayor-allocates-58-7m-to-retrofit-up-to-5-000-social-homes-i/https://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-mayor-allocates-58-7m-to-retrofit-up-to-5-000-social-homes-i/The money is London's share of a £295m government fund, and the Mayor's own earlier £10m scheme has upgraded more than 1,000 homes.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:48:17 GMTCity HallAssembly asks Mayor to lobby Government over £55m cut to police technology budgethttps://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-assembly-asks-mayor-to-lobby-government-over-55m-cut-to-poli/https://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-assembly-asks-mayor-to-lobby-government-over-55m-cut-to-poli/A second Assembly letter, six days later, asks the Deputy Mayor what "tough choices" the Met faces after MOPAC blocked the Palantir contract.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 08:45:19 GMTCity HallBritish Transport Police start four-month facial recognition trial at Victoria stationhttps://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-british-transport-police-start-four-month-facial-recognition/https://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-british-transport-police-start-four-month-facial-recognition/The London Assembly voted 14 to 3 on 2 July to back the technology and to ask the Mayor to reassure London boroughs about it.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:43:09 GMTCity HallGLA land company has completed 15,135 of 68,000 homes and is late repaying £300m loanhttps://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-gla-land-company-has-completed-15-135-of-68-000-homes-and-is/https://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-gla-land-company-has-completed-15-135-of-68-000-homes-and-is/The London Assembly's Budget and Performance Committee took GLA Land and Property's delivery record on 9 July, and has published no report or letter from the session since.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:25:29 GMTCity HallTfL approves 15-vehicle supervised robocab trial after Assembly poll finds 42% opposedhttps://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-tfl-approves-15-vehicle-supervised-robocab-trial-after-assem/https://thesmoke.london/story/2026-08-14-tfl-approves-15-vehicle-supervised-robocab-trial-after-assem/The cars will carry a licensed private hire driver at the wheel, and the London Assembly Transport Committee says it still has questions about passenger safeguarding.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 03:28:14 GMTCity Hall