Greater London Authority Bill

moved Amendment No. 1: 1: Clause 2, page 2, line 23, leave out ““or any of the functional bodies”” and insert ““, any of the functional bodies or such body representative of the London borough councils”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, we now return again to the role of the London boroughs and London councils which represent those boroughs. The amendment would safeguard the voice of London boroughs by elevating them to the proper place as primary bodies with which the Mayor must consult when devising his strategies. It will ensure that, in his deliberations on London-wide strategy, the Mayor would have to take into account the views of democratically elected local authorities in London. The amendment would place these authorities on the same footing as the London Assembly as regards consultation and would inject a much needed democratic ingredient into the Mayor’s consultation process. The case for the amendment is clear, and we discussed it in Committee. Councils in London are not only the democratic representatives of Londoners, but the very bodies charged with carrying out the Mayor’s strategies. Their inclusion in the consultation process would ensure that mayoral policies were set out with all stakeholders in view. The inclusion of the councils would ensure that all Londoners were represented. In other words, it would fill the gaps on the London Assembly where some boroughs are not represented so adequately. It can only be the right thing that elected representatives have an explicit stake at the same level as the GLA in London-wide strategies before they are published and, effectively, are fait accomplis. I am surprised that the Government have not accepted the amendment and seen the virtue of it. London councils, as representative bodies, would provide one extra level of scrutiny which would strengthen the Mayor’s eventual strategic mandate. I was quite surprised by the Minister’s response in Committee, where she said that the Mayor should take account of views from within ““the family””. Perhaps it is naive of me to assume that the Mayor, the London Assembly and locally elected representatives should not be all one and the same family, delivering together effectively across London. I hope that the Minister will be able to accept this amendment. I beg to move.