Greater London Authority Bill

The suggestion clearly has more of a history than I anticipated, and I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Sheikh, on raising such an interesting topic. I am not quite as cynical as my noble friend Lord Harris. I welcome the call that the noble Lord has made for all parties to work together over the Olympics. I am sure that we shall see that, because it will clearly be an opportunity to showcase and highlight London, and there will also be the regeneration work, as well as our heritage and cosmopolitan culture. It will be an extremely important event. However, I am afraid that it is not sufficiently exceptional to postpone the 2012 mayoral elections by a year to ensure continuity.