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.[1] 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 proportional representation, with 13 seats needed for a majority. Elections take place every four years, at the same time as those 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 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.[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 £60,416.[3]
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 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 general election, the Conservative Party manifesto proposed changing 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 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).
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.
