RUSHES: Coronavirus: Sadiq Khan GVs and interview

Coronavirus: Sadiq Khan GVs and interview; ENGLAND: London: EXT Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London) interview SOT Q: REACTION TO NEW TFL FUNDING DEAL - Well look, I'm really keen to make sure that our public transport which is world class continues to run / the reality is it's only because of the pandemic is the reason why we need the government support; we've lost more than 90% of our passengers at the heart of the pandemic so we're asking the government for support / these have been really tough negotiations, we've managed to overcome some of the worst conditions, the government wanted us to make cuts that would have lead to 1 out of 5 buses being lost in London, one of our tube line having to close down; I can't pretend this deal is one that's good for Londoners but we've had to accept it and it's a six month deal / we'll work with the government to build bridges because it's in the government's interest and our interest to make sure TfL continues to be world class Q: WILL YOU BE EXTENDING THE CONGESTION ZONE - No I'm quite clear / I've said to the government last year when they tried to impose a condition for us to extend the congestion charge to the north circular and south circular, no / when the government said to us last year to remove free travel for children I said no / when the government said take away free travel for over 60s I said no / it has been tough negotiations, I can't pretend we've got everything we wanted, we've got to find another £900 million of savings in this financial year on top of the £730 million savings we've got in our business plan, so it's going to be tough, but the key thing is to make sure public transport continues to run Q: TO THAT POINT, HOW WILL YOU MAKE THOSE SAVINGS - We're working really closely with our staff, I want to thank our staff, they've worked on the front line during this pandemic; we're going to work together to continue to make savings / over the last five years whilst I've been Mayor we've managed to r...