Greater London Authority Bill

moved Amendment No. 28: 28: Before Clause 18, insert the following new Clause— ““Membership of Transport for London (1) Schedule 10 to the GLA Act 1999 (Transport for London) is amended as follows. (2) For paragraph 2 substitute— ““2 (1) Transport for London shall consist of 15 members of whom— (a) eight (““the Assembly representatives””) shall be the Assembly members appointed by the Mayor; and (b) the remainder (““the borough representatives””) shall be members of the London borough councils appointed by the Mayor on the nomination of the London borough councils acting jointly. (2) The Mayor shall exercise his power to appoint members under sub-paragraph (1)(a) above so as to ensure that, so far as practicable, the members for whose appointment he is responsible reflect the balance of parties for the time being prevailing among the members of the Assembly. (3) The London borough councils shall exercise their power to nominate members under sub-paragraph (1)(b) above so as to ensure that, so far as practicable, the members for whose nomination they are responsible reflect the balance of parties for the time being prevailing among the members of those councils taken as a whole. (4) It shall be the duty of the London borough councils to nominate the first members under sub-paragraph (1)(b) above in sufficient time before the reconstitution day so that the appointment of those members takes effect on that day. (5) The Secretary of State may by order vary any of the numbers for the time being specified in sub-paragraph (1) above, but the number of the Assembly representatives must exceed by one the number of the borough representatives. (6) Before making an order under sub-paragraph (5) above, the Secretary of State shall consult— (a) the Mayor; (b) the Assembly; (c) Transport for London; and (d) every London borough council.””.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, the amendment would put membership of Transport for London on a very similar footing to the current arrangements for the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, and would supplement the welcome changes made in Committee to the 1999 Act, which relaxed the rules and enabled borough councillors to sit on the board. The amendment would ensure that borough councillors could sit on the Transport for London board, but that there would always be one less of them than the number of Assembly Members. It would ensure that the fair and balanced representation of the political parties—something that the current Mayor sometimes has a lot to learn about, despite what various noble Lords have said today—was integral to the structure of the Transport for London board. Noble Lords will recall that the amendment was tabled in Committee. I hope they will also recall the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Drefelin, who said quite rightly that, "““the blanket bar on political representation carries its own costs””.—[Official Report, 2/5/07; col. GC 92.]" I agree with the Minister, and I encourage the Government to have the courage to stand by that principle. Clause 18 goes some way to showing that the Government trust elected representatives of all boroughs as much as they trust the Mayor. The appointment of Transport for London members should not rest entirely with the Mayor. The Transport for London board and other boards should function democratically, not mayorally. I beg to move.