The Labor Party will have no members sitting as chairman or vice-chairman of any of the London Assembly’s review committees after this morning’s annual meeting.
Assembly members voted this morning on who should take a stand at the first meeting since the GLA election, but the City Hall Labor Group accused the Greens, Tories and Liberal Democrats of forming a “coalition” to “block” its members from a key review. committee positions.
A deal between the three parties, which have a total of 14 members in the assembly, meant Labor could not overturn their appointments to chairmen and deputy chairmen of committees reviewing the work of the mayor, the Metropolitan Police, the TfL and other GLAs. body.
Labor group leader Len Duvall accused members of the Green and Liberal Democrats of being “in bed with the Tories” and “betraying the very people who put them in town hall”.
Mr Duvall said: “They say they want to reflect the political balance in the Assembly, but they support each other and not Labor.
“What we basically have here is a new coalition. It is disappointing to see the Liberal Democrats and the Greens supporting the Conservatives in this way – they had a choice and they decided to go with those who want to weaken our public services.
But the other parties fought back against the Labor Party, with the group choosing not to accept the positions of chair of the environment committee, the health committee and the fire, resilience and emergency planning committee.
Town Hall Conservative Group leader Susan Hall accused Labor of “abdicating their responsibility to hold the mayor to account.”
Ms Hall said: ‘Instead of reaching a fair deal in Assembly committees, ensuring that all Londoners were represented, they refused to chair just one. It’s only been a week since the election but they have already let Londoners down.
Meanwhile, Caroline Russell, leader of City Hall Green, said: “The Greens at City Hall strongly believe in proportional representation and have worked hard to achieve a fair and proportional arrangement for our oversight work. interparties on behalf of Londoners. We hope Labor will return to the table and fully participate in the work of the Assembly to serve the interests of Londoners.
Liberal Democrat leader Caroline Pidgeon said “every effort has been made” to reach an agreement with all parties and that she “only regrets that Labor has chosen not to join us”.
A key point of contention for Labor appears to be the chairmanship of the transport committee, which was previously held by Dr Alison Moore of Labor under the previous administration, as well as the length of each appointment.
Liberal Democrat Caroline Pidgeon was named today as chair of the transport committee, with Tory Keith Prince as vice chair.
Tory Assembly member Andrew Boff was chosen to chair the London Assembly by members, with party colleague Keith Prince as vice-chair.
Upon his selection, Mr Boff said: “The London Assembly is the voice of London. We are here to hold the mayor to account, to challenge his decisions and to make sure he keeps the promises we make during an election period.
“As an Assembly, we must work together across political divisions to achieve what Londoners have asked us to prioritize.”
The London Assembly has no formal decision-making power other than to change the mayor’s budget if a majority is agreed.
Its main function is to review the work of the various GLA bodies as well as to investigate issues affecting Londoners.
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Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-05-14 13:00:00
