London Assembly
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The London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget. The Assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south side of the River Thames close to Tower Bridge.
The Assembly is also able to investigate other issues of importance to Londoners, publish its findings and recommendations, and make proposals to the Mayor.
Although the Assembly's powers are fairly limited, the body is increasingly seen as a stepping stone to Parliament. In the time since its creation in 2000, six Assembly members have been elected to the House of Commons: David Lammy, Meg Hillier and Diana Johnson for Labour; Andrew Pelling and Bob Neill for the Conservatives; and Lynne Featherstone for the Liberal Democrats. In addition, Angie Bray and Bob Blackman have been selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidates for the marginal seats of Ealing Acton and Harrow East at the next general election.
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[change] Makeup
The London Assembly comprises 25 members elected using the Additional Member System. Elections take place every four years - at the same time as for the Mayor. There are 14 constituencies each electing one member, with a further 11 members elected from a party list to make the total members from each party proportional to the votes cast for that party across the whole of London. Parties must win at least 5% of the party list vote in order to win any seats. Members of the Assembly have the letters 'AM' after their names.
[change] Current state of the parties
| Party | Seats | Current Assembly | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2004 | |||||||||||
| Conservative | 9 | 9 | ||||||||||
| Labour | 9 | 7 | ||||||||||
| Liberal Democrat | 4 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Green | 3 | 2 | ||||||||||
| One London¹ | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||
¹Both One London members were elected on the United Kingdom Independence Party list but defected in February 2005 to the newly-formed Veritas party; from September 2005 they formed their own party.
[change] Constituency Members
- Further information: London Assembly constituencies
| London Assembly constituencies | |
|---|---|
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| Constituency | Member | Party |
|---|---|---|
| Barnet and Camden | Brian Coleman | Conservative |
| Bexley and Bromley | Bob Neill | Conservative |
| Brent and Harrow | Robert Blackman | Conservative |
| City and East | John Biggs | Labour |
| Croydon and Sutton | Andrew Pelling | Conservative |
| Ealing and Hillingdon | Richard Barnes | Conservative |
| Enfield and Haringey | Joanne McCartney | Labour |
| Greenwich and Lewisham | Len Duvall | Labour |
| Havering and Redbridge | Roger Evans | Conservative |
| Lambeth and Southwark | Valerie Shawcross | Labour |
| Merton and Wandsworth | Elizabeth Howlett | Conservative |
| North East | Jennette Arnold | Labour |
| South West | Tony Arbour | Conservative |
| West Central | Angie Bray | Conservative |
[change] London-wide Members
- Liberal Democrat - Lord Tope, Baroness Hamwee, Michael Tuffrey, Dee Doocey, Geoff Pope
- Labour - Nicky Gavron, Murad Qureshi
- Green - Jenny Jones, Darren Johnson
- One London (originally UKIP, later Veritas) - Damian Hockney, Peter Hulme-Cross
[change] See also
- London Assembly election, 2000
- London Assembly election, 2004
- Toby Harris
