---

Greater London Authority Bill

Fine. The role of the Assembly, as intended, is carried out through its membership of the Metropolitan Police Authority. As it happens, for very good reasons, I think that I am right in saying that in seven years I have been the only Member of the London Assembly to chair a committee of the police authority. The chair of the authority is an Assembly Member and always has been, but I think that I am the only Member to chair a committee. There is a very good reason for that; it is not because the other Assembly Members are lazy or do not want to do it—not at all. As the noble Lord, Lord Harris, said, it is because they have other priorities and other things to do. Therefore, were we to move the scrutiny role to the Assembly we would hugely weaken the accountability of the Metropolitan Police in London for which we waited 170 years and which is now starting to make a significant difference.