MEMBERSHIP OF THE AUTHORITY AND THE ASSEMBLY (Hansard, 4 May 1999)

§ The Minister for London and Construction (Mr. Nick Raynsford)
I beg to move amendment No. 93, in page 2, line 32, leave out 'or (6)'.

§ Madam Speaker
With this, it will be convenient to discuss Government amendments Nos. 94 to 98, 108A and 99 to 101.

§ Mr. Raynsford
Part I of the Bill establishes the new Greater London Authority and the systems by which the mayor and assembly are to be elected. The model of government set out in part I, and throughout the Bill, is a radical one. There will be a new strategic authority—headed by a directly elected mayor and democratically accountable to the people of London—to tackle problems and co-ordinate action on a citywide basis.
The voting systems that we are putting in place will underpin that new model of government. They will help to deliver a strong executive mayor with a clear mandate from the people of London, and an assembly that can hold the mayor to account and is inclusive and representative of London as a whole.
The elections to the authority will be treated as local authority elections for the purposes of the Representation of the People Act 1983, except where the new electoral systems that we are proposing make existing local government provisions impractical or inappropriate for authority elections.
Where changes are needed, I have been keen to adopt a bipartisan approach. I have written to the main Opposition parties on several electoral issues in order to achieve a consensus, as far as possible. I hope that we can maintain this constructive approach as the Bill moves to another place. That is our intention in the amendments, which respond to various issues raised by Opposition Members in Committee.
Amendments Nos. 93 to 101 provide for the date of the first ordinary elections to the authority to be specified in the Bill. Hon. Members who served in Committee will recall that I wrote to them on 15 April, setting out details of the amendments that I proposed to make to clause 3. I trust that hon. Members of all parties are satisfied that the amendments meet the commitments that we made in Committee to reconsider the provisions.
I made it clear in Committee that we were prepared to consider amendments to write the date of the first elections—4 May 2000—into the Bill, with appropriate provision to enable the elections to be delayed in 712 exceptional circumstances, such as disaster or civil emergency. The amendments achieve that. Also, and in the light of the views expressed in Committee, I have concluded that the provisions of clause 3(2), which empower the Secretary of State to designate the years of the second and third elections by order, are unnecessary. Ordinary elections to the authority will therefore follow in a clear four-year cycle from 4 May 2000.
Amendment No. 108A is a technical amendment to clause 18, which provides for the Secretary of State to make payments in respect of the first ordinary elections from the Consolidated Fund. The purpose of the amendment is to clarify that the Secretary of State must, in preparing an account for the sums issued to him from the Consolidated Fund, state in that account what he has done with the sums received. As I have said, this is a technical amendment to ensure that arrangements for payments from the Consolidated Fund are in line with other legislation in that area, and I ask the House to support it.

§ Mr. Richard Ottaway (Croydon, South)
As the amendments are very similar to some tabled by Conservative Members in Committee, we have no trouble with them.

§ Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark, North and Bermondsey)
I echo entirely the comments of the hon. Member for Croydon, South (Mr. Ottaway). We made those points in Committee and the Government have been accommodating; we are grateful.