Greater London Authority Bill

My Lords, again it is suggested that the amendment was tabled because of the current incumbent of the office. This may come as news to my noble friend, but I would still seek this power of direction if he were Mayor. Mind you, I think that he is going to say that he never will be. I expect that he would seek the same power if I were Mayor, although I never will be. I wish that some of the more thoughtful members of the Labour group on the Assembly were here, because I think that they would argue exactly the same thing—not to take us back to the GLC or to alter the fundamental model, but, as the jargon goes, to put another item in the toolbox for the Assembly to exercise its function of holding the Mayor to account. The amendment would be entirely consistent with that. This is not about having scars to prove anything; it is about considering the possibilities in the future. Indeed, that is the role of Parliament. I will resist the suggestion made by the noble Lord, Lord Graham, that I read out the two pages in my hand. I shall refer instead to the new point made about Section 30 of the existing Act by the Department for Communities and Local Government following Grand Committee. It said that the authority—that is, the Mayor— "““has power to do anything which it considers will further any one or more of its principal purposes. The principal purposes are … economic development and wealth creation … the promotion of social development … the promotion of the improvement of the environment””." We will come on to climate change later. This has the potential to be very wide indeed. The amendment is thinking ahead. It is not about uproar over anything that has happened; it is trying to anticipate where there might be difficulties. On the question of something being so urgent that it cannot wait for 14 days, I am grateful to noble Lords, because I now have an idea for an amendment at Third Reading that is along these lines but would require a monitoring officer to be able to certify that the matter was so urgent that the Assembly should not be able to call it in in advance. On that basis, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.