Greater London Authority Bill

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. We return to what the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives believe is a fundamental flaw in the Bill. If the hon. Member for Regent's Park and Kensington, North (Ms Buck), who has just left the Chamber, had wished to be cruel, she could have pointed out that we were simply re-tabling a measure that we had considered before and that the arguments that we were deploying in its favour had not been developed since we considered the matter in Committee. However, the difference is that new clause 8 commands the support of both my party and the official Opposition, so I suspect that there is a greater likelihood of it being agreed to. Members of the Public Bill Committee, some of whom are in the Chamber, will recall that we had long and detailed discussions about various aspects of the Mayor’s budget. One long debate related to the component of the Mayor’s budget for the assembly. Concern was expressed about whether a future Mayor might use his or her powers to restrict the assembly’s budget to such an extent that it could not do its job of scrutinising the Mayor’s business. Several extremely complex formulae were also cited in Committee. I will not attempt to describe or elaborate on them today, and I hope that no one will challenge me to do so. Even the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) would have some difficulty explaining the way in which his floors and ceilings operated—[Interruption.] Perhaps the hon. Member for Beckenham (Mrs. Lait) would like to intervene to clarify the purpose of those extremely complex equations and their factors and parameters. The crux of our debate was the need to ensure that there was more scrutiny of the Mayor’s budget and a greater role for assembly members in ensuring that the Mayor came forward with a budget that they could support. Hon. Members will know that the existing arrangements require two thirds of assembly members to oppose the Mayor’s budget if it is to be blocked. Many hon. Members in the Chamber must find that difficult to understand. When the Chancellor presents his Budget, he needs to secure the support of a simple majority if it is to proceed, but that is not the case for the Mayor’s budget. One of the aspects of our Committee proceedings that I regretted was that no convincing argument was made for why that was an appropriate way of operating. We fully support the Government’s desire for more powers to be transferred from central Government to the Mayor. That is the right direction of travel, and it is something for which we have consistently argued since back in 1998, when the original Bill was considered. As I said earlier, we supported giving the Mayor additional powers on rail in London nine years ago. However, we have been just as adamant that as the Mayor acquires additional powers, scrutiny and oversight should be enhanced. There is no logic in requiring the Mayor’s budget to command the support of only a third of assembly members. Democracy dictates that a simple majority should be required. In Committee, the Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, the hon. Member for Poplar and Canning Town (Jim Fitzpatrick), gave us an uncharacteristically unconvincing explanation. The Minister usually does a very good job of explaining why the Government have adopted a particular position, but he said:"““The GLA’s budget setting process is now tried and tested. It allocates some £9 billion in funding per year and it has been shown to work.””––[Official Report, Greater London Authority Public Bill Committee, 9 January 2007; c. 77.]" Londoners would dispute that statement. Given that there has been a 100 per cent. increase in the Mayor’s precept over four years, many Londoners would say that the Mayor’s budget process does not work at all. The Mayor’s precept is a relatively small percentage of the overall council tax bill. People see the headline bill that they receive and then berate their local council, irrespective of its political complexion—whether it is Labour, Conservative or Lib Dem—for the increase in council tax. However, the Mayor’s precept is hidden in the council tax, and it has often increased by significantly more than the council tax.