When you are travelling across London on public transport, having a public toilet available when you need it ought to be simple. But last week in the London Assembly, a simple proposal from the Green group was voted down. Why?

Age UK has found that nine out of 10 Londoners consider whether to make journeys based on concerns about toilet facilities. Yet almost all of the Tube stations run by Transport for London (TfL) lack any facilities, and even the brand new stations on the central section of the Elizabeth Line have opened without public loos. 

My colleague on the Assembly, Caroline Russell, started work on this issue when she was first elected, and has never stopped challenging the attitude from TfL that public toilets are not part of their service. Over the past eight years, Caroline has steadily built up support for adding new toilets to Tube stations through questions, motions and a detailed health committee investigation.

Ham & High: Sian Berry says almost all TfL tube stations lack toiletsSian Berry says almost all TfL tube stations lack toilets (Image: NEWSQUEST)

Last week, for the final GLA budget, Greens made a new proposal to allocate £20 million from reserves to invest in 70 new toilets, including fully accessible baby changing rooms. This proposal won - for the first time in a budget meeting - the backing of all the opposition groups in the Assembly. A majority of AMs voted yes to making our plan an official change to the budget. 

But without the Labour group’s support, this was not enough to win as a budget amendment needs a two-thirds majority. We tried everything we could in the meeting to persuade the Labour members to join us. At just £20 million from a £20 billion total GLA budget, it was a minor adjustment the Labour Mayor should not be scared to receive from the Assembly. However, Labour refused to listen and voted it down. 

Along with a whole range of campaigners and citizens, I was very disappointed with them for doing this despite all the work we had done to build the case for something that benefits everyone. One Conservative AM told us: "I am a regular user of toilets" - and indeed aren’t we all?

In response to public dismay, the Mayor has now offered to back a feasibility study for tube toilets instead, so I hope that after this (totally unnecessary) hurdle is cleared, we will see more of this idea soon.

Sian Berry (Green Party) is a London Assembly member and a Highgate councillor.