---

Greater London Authority Bill

moved Amendment No. 9: The noble Lord said: The purpose of the amendment is to remove the Mayor’s power to appoint himself without Assembly oversight. Under the Bill, most proposed appointments by the Mayor must pass through confirmation hearings held by the Assembly, as we have just talked about, but extraordinarily, as the Bill stands, there is no such requirement when the Mayor wishes to appoint himself to a position. The amendment seeks nothing more nefarious than to subject the Mayor to the same process as all other appointees. It has already become a familiar refrain, both at Second Reading and in our opening exchanges this afternoon, that the Mayor faces precious little scrutiny by the Assembly. That position is only exacerbated by the Bill. This is another striking illustration of the complete lack of accountability for the Mayor’s actions. We debated that earlier. Leaving aside for now the complaint that the confirmation hearings themselves do not give the Assembly much real influence, it is remarkable that the Government are proposing to allow the Mayor not only to take up a new post without any form of approval but to make this very similar appointment himself without any formal safeguard. I beg to move.