Greater London Authority Bill

My Lords, I have the same problem with this amendment as with a number that we have discussed this evening. There is an attempt here to write in powers that the legislation never intended the Assembly to have. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, has said that this is not a veto, but it looks very like a veto to me: "““Before issuing a direction … the Mayor shall act in accordance with the following subsections””." That is before he issues the direction. This was not envisaged in the original legislation, which was deliberately designed to give the Mayor very large powers, as we all know. Everybody seemed to agree with that at the time. Now we have attempts to undercut and chip away at those powers in a way which would restore some of the powers of the GLC, which it was never intended the Assembly should have. The Assembly’s function was quite different. I do not know whether the Minister agrees with that, but I am really unhappy about this wording because it is not in line with the intentions of the original legislation or the Bill before the House.