London Assembly

The London Assembly is a 25-member 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 super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject the Mayor's draft statutory strategies.[1] The London Assembly was established in 2000 and meets at City Hall on the south bank of the River Thames, close to Tower Bridge. The Assembly is also able to investigate other issues of importance to Londoners (transport, environmental matters, etc.), publish its findings and recommendations, and make proposals to the Mayor.

Type
Type
History
Founded3 July 2000
Leadership
Navin Shah, Labour
since 15 May 2020
Deputy Chair
Tony Arbour, Conservative
since 2 May 2019
Group leaders
Structure
Seats25
Political groups
Committees
Elections
Additional Member System
Last election
5 May 2016
Next election
6 May 2021
Meeting place
City Hall, Southwark
Website
www.london.gov.uk
London
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Assembly Members

The Assembly comprises 25 Assembly Members elected using the Additional Member System of proportional representation, with 13 seats needed for a majority. Elections take place every four years – at the same time as for the Mayor. There are 14 geographical super-constituencies each electing one Member, with a further 11 members elected from a party list to make the total Assembly Members from each party proportional to the votes cast for that party across the whole of London using a modified D'Hondt allocation.[2] A party must win at least 5% of the party list vote in order to win any seats. Members of the London Assembly have the post-nominal title 'AM'. The annual salary for a London Assembly Member is approximately £59,000.[3]

Former Assembly Members

Since its creation in 2000, fifteen Assembly Members have subsequently been elected to the House of Commons: David Lammy, Meg Hillier, Diana Johnson and Florence Eshalomi for Labour; Andrew Pelling, Bob Neill, Angie Bray, Bob Blackman, Eric Ollerenshaw, Victoria Borwick, James Cleverly, Kit Malthouse, Kemi Badenoch and Gareth Bacon for the Conservatives; and Lynne Featherstone for the Liberal Democrats. One Assembly Member, Jenny Jones, was appointed to the House of Lords as the first life peer for the Green Party, and simultaneously sat in the Assembly until May 2016. Sally Hamwee, Graham Tope and Toby Harris were life peers elected to the Assembly, while Lynne Featherstone and Dee Doocey were appointed peers after leaving the Assembly. In addition, Val Shawcross, Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark was selected, but unsuccessful, as the Labour parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Bermondsey and Old Southwark at the 2010 general election, as was Navin Shah who stood for Labour in Harrow East in 2017. Andrew Dismore, Graham Tope, and the late Richard Tracey are all former MPs who were later elected to the Assembly. One Assembly Member – John Biggs, former AM for City and East – became the directly-elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2015. He is currently serving as the Mayor, having been re-elected in 2018.

Structure of the Assembly

London Assembly elections have been held under the Additional Member System, with a set number of constituencies elected on a first-past-the-post system and a set number London-wide on a closed party list system. Terms are for four years, so despite the delayed 2020 election, which will be held in 2021, the following election will be in 2024.

In December 2016, an Electoral Reform Bill was introduced which would have changed the election system to first-past-the-post.[4] At the 2017 UK general election, the Conservative Party manifesto proposed changes to how the Assembly is elected, to first-past-the-post.[5] However, since the general election of 2017, which resulted in a hung Parliament with the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party in a confidence and supply arrangement, no action has been taken with regard to the electoral arrangements of the London Assembly and it is generally assumed that the 2020 election, which has been delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be held on the current electoral system of AMS (constituencies and regional list)

Political party Assembly members
2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
Labour 9 7 8 12 12
12 / 25
Conservative 9 9 11 9 8
8 / 25
Green 3 2 2 2 2
2 / 25
UKIP 2 2
2 / 25
Liberal Democrat 4 5 3 2 1
1 / 25
British National Party 1
0 / 25

On 12 December 2018, following Peter Whittle's departure from UKIP, he and David Kurten disbanded the UKIP grouping and formed the Brexit Alliance group, though Kurten still remains a member of UKIP.

In March 2019, following Tom Copley and Fiona Twycross departure to full-time Deputy Mayor roles, Murad Qureshi and Alison Moore replaced them as Labour Assembly Members, the term of office having been extended from May 2020 to May 2021, due to no elections being held during the COVID-19 pandemic.

List of current Assembly Members
Constituency Member Political party
Barnet and Camden Andrew Dismore Labour Co-operative
Bexley and Bromley Gareth Bacon Conservative
Brent and Harrow Navin Shah Labour
City and East Unmesh Desai Labour
Croydon and Sutton Stephen O'Connell Conservative
Ealing and Hillingdon Onkar Sahota Labour
Enfield and Haringey Joanne McCartney Labour Co-operative
Greenwich and Lewisham Len Duvall Labour Co-operative
Havering and Redbridge Keith Prince Conservative
Lambeth and Southwark Florence Eshalomi Labour Co-operative
Merton and Wandsworth Leonie Cooper Labour Co-operative
North East Jennette Arnold Labour Co-operative
South West Tony Arbour Conservative
West Central Tony Devenish Conservative
Additional Members
London-wide		 Nicky Gavron Labour Co-operative
Murad Qureshi Labour
Alison Moore Labour
Andrew Boff Conservative
Susan Hall Conservative
Shaun Bailey Conservative
Siân Berry Green
Caroline Russell Green
Peter Whittle Brexit Alliance
David Kurten Brexit Alliance
Caroline Pidgeon Liberal Democrat
Composition of London Assembly, 2000 – 2016
     Green Party      Labour Party      Liberal Democrats      Conservative Party      UKIP      BNP

List of chairs of the London Assembly
Chairs of the assembly
Name Entered office Left office Political party
Trevor Phillips May 2000 May 2001 Labour
Sally Hamwee May 2001 May 2002 Liberal Democrat
Trevor Phillips May 2002 February 2003 Labour
Sally Hamwee February 2003 May 2004 Liberal Democrat
Brian Coleman May 2004 May 2005 Conservative
Sally Hamwee May 2005 May 2006 Liberal Democrat
Brian Coleman May 2006 May 2007 Conservative
Sally Hamwee May 2007 May 2008 Liberal Democrat
Jennette Arnold May 2008 May 2009 Labour
Darren Johnson May 2009 May 2010 Green
Dee Doocey May 2010 May 2011 Liberal Democrat
Jennette Arnold May 2011 May 2013 Labour
Darren Johnson May 2013 May 2014 Green
Roger Evans May 2014 May 2015 Conservative
Jennette Arnold May 2015 May 2016 Labour
Tony Arbour May 2016 May 2017 Conservative
Jennette Arnold May 2017 May 2018 Labour
Tony Arbour May 2018 May 2019 Conservative
Jennette Arnold May 2019 May 2020 Labour
Navin Shah May 2020 Incumbent Labour

Committees

The Assembly has formed the following committees:[6]

The Police and Crime Committee was set up under the terms of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 in order to scrutinise the work of Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, which replaced the Metropolitan Police Authority.[9]

Result maps

Note that these maps only show constituency results and not list results.

  • 2000 results
  • 2004 results
  • 2008 results
  • 2012 results
  • 2016 results
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References
  1. "Localism Act 2011". Legislation.gov.uk. 7 February 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  2. "BBC News – How the London election works". bbc.co.uk. 25 April 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  3. "Salaries, expenses, benefits and workforce information". London City Hall. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  4. Stone, Jon (23 December 2016). "Tory and Labour MPs gang up in bid to strip London Assembly of PR voting system". The Independent.
  5. "Tories confirm London Assembly also faces election rules shake-up". Mayor Watch. 19 May 2017.
  6. "London Assembly – Membership of Committees/Bodies and Terms of Reference 2019/20 | London Assembly" (PDF). london.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  7. "Committee Details – Education Panel | London City Hall". london.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  8. "EU Exit Working Group | London City Hall". london.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  9. "Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011". Legislation.gov.uk. 26 October 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
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