London Assembly | |
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Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Leader of the Majority
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Leader of the Opposition
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Structure | |
Seats | 25 members |
Political groups
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Committees |
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Elections | |
Additional Member System | |
Last election
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5 May 2016 |
Meeting place | |
City Hall Southwark, Greater London, United Kingdom |
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Website | |
www.london.gov.uk |
The London Assembly is an 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 majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject the Mayor's draft statutory strategies. The 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.
The assembly comprises 25 members elected using the Additional Member System of proportional representation. Elections take place every four years – at the same time as for the Mayor. There are 14 constituencies each electing one member, with a further 11 members elected from a party list to make the total members from each party proportional to the votes cast for that party across the whole of London using a modified D'Hondt allocation. A party must win at least 5% of the party list vote in order to win any seats. Members of the assembly have the post-nominal title 'AM'. The annual salary for a London Assembly member is approximately £55,000.
Since its creation in 2000, twelve assembly members have subsequently been elected to the House of Commons: David Lammy, Meg Hillier and Diana Johnson for Labour; Andrew Pelling, Bob Neill, Angie Bray, Bob Blackman, Eric Ollerenshaw, Victoria Borwick, James Cleverly and Kit Malthouse 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 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. Andrew Dismore, Graham Tope, and 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.