Greater London Authority Bill

I had no intention of taking part in the debate, but I have considerable reservations. There has been an astonishing sideways move on the subject of the extension of the Mayor’s powers to overground railways outside the London area, and that has resulted in a strange, unstructured debate. As far as I know, the House of Commons has not yet formulated a view on the matter, although individual Members have considerable worries about it. It would be unwise to slip gently into an arrangement that could have damaging effects without proper consultation. The Mayor may have territorial claims on areas outside those that elect him, although that establishes an interesting precedent, and the House of Commons ought to think about that seriously before it accepts the idea. In addition, if the railways are to be considered an extension of the London Mayor’s empire, other areas of the country will have something to say about the matter. It is perfectly true that because of the attractions of the capital city all our railways either begin or end in London. It is all very well saying that it would be convenient for a large conurbation to have control over the bits of a service that happen to run through it, but the matter is rather more complicated than that. I am concerned about us slipping, almost by default, into a situation in which it looks as though we accept the case for the Mayor having control over overground railways, although I am sure that we do not. I am not a lawyer, and I do not know whether that is the implication of the new clause, but if it does provide that power it should be fully debated. It should be put in context and understood, and we should have the right to ask whether it should happen. All our transport systems must be integrated. I do not object at all to political appointments for such arrangements. Indeed, if I were in charge of the national health service, I would introduce a simple measure excluding anyone who did not believe in an integrated health service. It would not admit competition between hospitals and other units, and it would make it impossible for private hospitals to compete with national health units. It would make it impossible for anyone carrying private health insurance to play any role whatsoever in the NHS. If one or two supplementary clauses automatically excluded members of new Labour, that would be an excellent idea. Sadly, however, the House of Commons does not accept such restrictions. I therefore have only one or two things to ask the Minister. First, does the extension of power mean that the Mayor automatically has a say in the planning and execution of services, as well as the way in which they are integrated with the overground railway? If so, do the railway industry and passenger services have the right to be consulted about that extension of power? Secondly, is it in the interests of an elected mayor, whoever they are, to be able to control services outwith the area in which they were elected? Does that not raise an interesting point, which should concern us very deeply? Thirdly, if the Department for Transport was consulted, and is in the process of consulting, may we know the terms of reference?