Safety must always take precedence over any other consideration

Ken Livingstone

He also suggested that such action would win the support of the public.

The mayor was speaking ahead of a speech to London Underground workers on Monday night.

At the meeting he told London transport workers they were in the best position to identify safety issues and explained the latest situation on the government's public private partnership (PPP) proposals for the tube.

Safety worries have already prompted some unions to begin balloting over strike action.

Mr Livingstone said: "The people working on the Underground are in the best position to identify issues of safety. Their fears must be taken totally seriously.

Safety first

"Safety must always take precedence over any other consideration."

The mayor, who triggered his expulsion from the Labour Party by running against its official candidate, was joined by TUC general secretary John Monks at the meeting organised by the RMT, Aslef and TSSA rail unions in central London.

He said that fragmentation of the national rail network because of privatisation was "a major factor undermining safety".

"I am hopeful that discussions with government will result in an acceptable and safe solution which retains unified management of the system," he said.

Prepared to fight

But Mr Livingstone said that he would fight any plan that "takes risks with the lives of passengers and workers on trains running in tunnels hundreds of feet under London".

That was taken to be a thinly disguised warning that he expected the government to compromise over PPP or face an embarrassing fight ahead of an expected general election.

Mr Kiley was brought in from New York

In December Bob Kiley, the man appointed by the mayor to run London's transport system, described the government's proposals for the tube as "fatally flawed".

Mr Kiley, who became London's transport chief on Monday, is credited with rescuing New York's ailing subway.

He has submitted his own proposals for the underground. He dubbed those plans the "son of PPP".

Mr Livingstone favours a bond issue to raise funds for the Underground, which has put him on a long-standing collision course with the government.

Mr Kiley's idea, as outlined last month, would include a bond issue, but would also rely on substantial partnership with the private sector.