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 supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject the Mayor's draft statutory strategies. The London Assembly was established in 2000. It is also able to investigate other issues of importance to Londoners (most notably transport or environmental matters), publish its findings and recommendations, and make proposals to the Mayor.

Assembly members

The Assembly comprises 25 members elected using the additional-member system of mixed-member proportional representation, with 13 seats needed for a majority. Elections take place every four years, at the same time as those for the mayor of London. There are 14 geographical constituencies, each electing one member, with a further 11 members elected from a party list to make the total number of Assembly 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 London Assembly have the post-nominal title "AM". The annual salary for a London Assembly member is approximately £60,416.

Former Assembly members

Since its creation in 2000, sixteen Assembly members subsequently were 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; Lynne Featherstone for the Liberal Democrats and Siân Berry for the Green Party.

One Assembly member, Jenny Jones, was elevated to the House of Lords as the Green Party's first life peer in 2013, continuing to sit in the Assembly until May 2016. Sally Hamwee, Graham Tope, and Toby Harris were already peers when elected to the assembly, while Lynne Featherstone and Dee Doocey were created life peers after standing down from the Assembly.

Val Shawcross, AM for Lambeth and Southwark, unsuccessfully contested Bermondsey and Old Southwark as the Labour parliamentary candidate at the 2010 general election, and Navin Shah stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Harrow East in 2017. Andrew Dismore, Graham Tope, and the late Richard Tracey are all former MPs later elected to the assembly. John Biggs, formerly AM for City and East, served as the directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets from 2015 until 2022.

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 was held in 2021, the following election was held in 2024.

In December 2016, an Electoral Reform Bill was introduced which would have changed the election system to first-past-the-post. At the 2017 general election, the Conservative Party manifesto proposed changing how the Assembly is elected to first-past-the-post.

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 the 2020 election, delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was held on the current electoral system of AMS (constituencies and regional lists).

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.

In March 2019, following the departure of Tom Copley and Fiona Twycross to take up full-time Deputy Mayor roles, Murad Qureshi and Alison Moore replaced them as Labour Assembly members. The end of the term in office for AMs was extended from May 2020 to May 2021, as no elections were being held during the COVID-19 pandemic.

List of current Assembly members

List of chairs of the London Assembly

Committees

The Assembly has formed the following committees:

* Audit Panel, chaired by Neil Garratt
* Budget and Performance Committee, chaired by Neil Garratt
* Confirmation Hearings Committee
* Economy, Culture, and Skills Committee, chaired by Hina Bokhari
* Environment Committee, chaired by Leonie Cooper
* Fire Committee, chaired by Zack Polanski
* GLA Oversight Committee, chaired by Bassam Mahfouz
* Health Committee, chaired by Emma Best
* Housing Committee, chaired by Zoë Garbett
* Planning and Regeneration Committee, chaired by James Small-Edwards
* Police and Crime Committee, chaired by Marina Ahmad
* Transport Committee, chaired by Elly Baker

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.

Result maps

These maps only show constituency results and not list results.

File:Greater London UK assembly election 2000 map.svg, 2000 results
File:Greater London UK assembly election 2004 map.svg, 2004 results
File:Greater London UK assembly election 2000 map.svg, 2008 results
File:Greater London UK assembly election 2012 map.svg, 2012 results
File:Greater London UK assembly election 2016 map.svg, 2016 results
File:Greater London UK assembly map 2021.svg, 2021 results
File:Greater London UK assembly map 2024.svg, 2024 results

London Youth Assembly

The London Assembly also operates a London Youth Assembly (LYA), which is made up of young people from across London. Each London borough elects or selects a representative and deputy representative to serve on the assembly. The procedure for choosing a representative is different in each borough, with some boroughs electing representatives while other representatives are selected by their local youth forum or council. Representatives are aged 11 to 19, or 11 to 25 if they have a disability or special needs. A representative may be known as a London Youth Assembly Member (LYAM) and a deputy representative may be known as a Deputy London Youth Assembly Member (DLYAM).

Ashan Khehra is the current Chair of the London Youth Assembly (LYA), elected unanimously in April 2024. He previously served as the LYA Member for Hounslow. Since taking on the role, Khehra has overseen efforts to re-establish the Assembly following a period of inactivity. During his tenure, the LYA has introduced several new initiatives, including the London Youth Achievement Awards, developed in partnership with the London Assembly to mark its 25th anniversary. He has also implemented a shadow cabinet within the Assembly, intended to provide a structured way for young people to engage with and contribute to discussions on city-level policy.

Notes

References

External links

London Assembly

London Assembly publications
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Conservatives in the London Assembly

London Assembly Liberal Democrats

{{London

Local government in London
Regional assemblies in England
2000 establishments in England