Greater London Authority Bill

There have been disagreements between some boroughs and the Mayor on aspects of waste disposal, including the example of Belvedere. In a sense, we are getting to the meat of the comments that I wish to make, and I would like to avoid duplication. When one relies on a more voluntary approach to these things there is always a risk of disagreements and of a lack of enforcement capability. The simple fact is that our performance is not good enough. This is not fundamentally an issue of political ideology. It should not divide the political parties or cause divisions within them, because we are all committed to a particular end game. The difference is that I do not believe that the proposals in the Bill represent a set of procedures that can rise to the challenge.