Greater London Authority Bill

Well he cannot do it until the provisions come into force. We expect the Mayor to publish the timescale for the strategy as soon as reasonably practicable after the provisions come into force. He has already prepared an energy strategy on a voluntary basis, so the current Mayor is keen to get cracking. On the other issue, new Section 361B(2) states that the strategy shall contain policies to assist in the implementation of the national climate change and energy policies. I fully appreciate that it is not always possible to catch up with amendments, but the new section contains that provision. On the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, about room to manoeuvre, suggesting that London should be able to go beyond national policies, as long as it is contributing to the key indicators on emission reductions and security of supply and not blocking national policies, it is fine for the Mayor to go further and innovate for London. That is not an issue. We have every confidence in the Mayor. That is why I mentioned flexibility. I cannot envisage that the Mayor would want to block national policies; he will want to contribute to national policies. If the Mayor wants to go further in London and can find ways to do that by innovating, he is wholly entitled to do so under the Bill. Indeed, the whole pressure is to encourage him to be proactive in this field.