Greater London Authority Bill

I was going to talk about the system of local government in the United States. It has been said often that, if we limited the term for the Mayor, we should do so for council leaders. In the United States, there are state governors—you can only have one term as Governor of Virginia—but local government is exactly the same as here. There is no limit to it. We go back to the point—and I support what the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, has just said—about vesting all this power in one person. That is what happens in the United States, and it is what is happening here with the Mayor. That is why we are talking about limiting terms as they are limited in the United States. It is nothing whatever to do with local government.