Greater London Authority Bill

moved Amendment No. 1: "““1: Clause 2, page 2, line 21, 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: This amendment is unfinished business as regards the previous Greater London Authority Act and I pick it up on that basis. One should make it clear whether one is speaking about the current Mayor or the system. There are difficult crossovers, where either the impact of the current Mayor or that of the system itself has made the tabling of amendments necessary. I should make it clear that I am talking here about the system, not the current Mayor. However, it seems to me an appropriate starting point for our wider consideration of the Bill and, in particular, the role of the London boroughs in the government of the capital. Our approach in the Bill is to oppose provisions that centralise too much influence with the Mayor and, as here, to balance as far as possible the power of the boroughs. It is striking that the boroughs are not included among the primary bodies that the Mayor must consult. This amendment would rectify that position. It would include the body that represents the boroughs-namely, London Councils-and thus put it on an equal footing with the London Assembly as regards consultation. That is an important principle. It would be wrong for the Mayor not to take into account the views of the body of local authorities, London Councils, when devising or consulting on his strategies. There are a number of reasons why we believe this to be the case. First, with equal democratic legitimacy, the boroughs would add an extra level of scrutiny to the Mayor's strategies. More pertinently, the councils themselves will be charged with carrying out the Mayor's strategies and ensuring that his duties are met. Therefore, to cut them out of the primary consultation process for those very strategies appears unjust. My honourable friends in another place, as well as many others outside Westminster, have raised legitimate concerns about the range of some of the Mayor's strategies elsewhere in the Bill. An easy way for the Government to allay some of these fears would be to ensure that the London boroughs had an explicit stake in the consultation process before these strategies are published. This amendment would help to entrench the Government's original vision of the Mayor as someone who should perform only a strategic role. It would not add any powers to London Councils but would give that body a voice. We hope that the Government will respond favourably to this suggestion. The Minister in another place argued that this was an unnecessary change as such consultation ought to take place in any event. If that is the case, there can be no possible argument against formalising the relationship. I beg to move.