The Greater London Authority Bill (2015)

BE IT ENACTED by The Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1. Definitions

(1) Constituents of Greater London are those who voted in a Greater London constituency at the previous General Election or did not vote at the previous General Election.

(2) Strategic Regional Authorities have control over specific policy areas in their allocated region.

(3) The alternative vote system ask voters to rank candidates in order of preference. However, the election or vote isn’t compulsory and people do not have to vote at all.

(4) The Majority Leader shall be voted on by members of the London Assembly in a leader vote. The majority leader shall be the leader who came first in the leader vote.

(5) The Minority Leader shall be voted on by members of the London Assembly in a leader vote. The minority leader shall be the leader who came second in the leader vote.

2. Greater London shall have a devolved legislature branch.

(1) The devolved Greater London legislature shall be called the Greater London Authority.

(2) The Greater London Authority shall contain the Mayor of London and the London Assembly, all positions shall be electable.

3. Greater London Authority

(1) The Greater London Authority shall consist of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

(2) All positions in the Greater London Authority shall be elected by the constituents of the metropolitan area of Greater London.

(3) There shall only be one Mayor of London at any one time.

(4) The number of members of the London Assembly are subject to change at the discretion of the Speakership.

(5) The Greater London Authority shall have power over the following:

(i) Powers over strategic planning including housing, waste management, the environment and production of the London Plan.

(ii) The power to refuse or permit planning permission on strategic grounds.

(iii) The power to decide Greater London’s transport policy, delivered by Transport for London.

(iv) The power to decide Greater London’s fire and emergency planning, delivered by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

(v) The power to decide Greater London’s Policing and crime policy, delivered by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.

(vi) The power to decide how to economically develop Greater London, delivered by the Greater London Development Agency.

(vii) The power to create development corporations, such as the London Legacy Development Corporation.

(6) The London Mayoral Elections and London Assembly Elections shall take place three weeks after the General Election.

(i) The polls shall be open for a period of time at the discretion of the Speakership.

4. Mayor of London

(1)The Mayor of London shall be an elected position.

(2) The Mayor of London shall be elected using the alternative vote system.

(i) Constituents of Greater London shall rank the candidates for mayor in order of preference.

(ii) The ranking system starts at 1 for the most prefered candidate. The higher the number the less prefered a candidate is.

(iii) When the London Mayoral Election polls close, the vote shall be counted up. If a candidate has more than 50%, that candidate shall be elected as the Mayor of London.

(iv) If there is no candidate with 50% of the vote, distribute the next preference votes of the candidate with the lowest number of votes. If there is a tie, distribute both lowest ranked candidates votes at the same time. Repeat until one candidate gains 50% of the vote.

(3) The Mayor of London shall be the leader of the Greater London Authority.

(4) The Mayor of London shall have the power to veto bills proposed by the London Assembly. However, the London Assembly can overturn the Mayor of London’s veto with a simple majority vote.

(5) The Mayor of London shall appoint people to the cabinet.

(i) Cabinet members shall not have to be members of the London Assembly.

(ii) The Cabinet shall advise the Mayor and the London Assembly on specific subjects.

(6) The Mayor of London has full control of their seat.

(i) The Mayor of London’s seat is not tied with any party affiliation.

(7) If the Mayor of London leaves office for any reason, a Mayoral by-election shall be held at the discretion of the speakership.

5. The London Assembly

(1) The London Assembly shall contain members of the London Assembly who are elected by Greater London constituents.

(2) The Greater London Assembly shall scrutinise the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the Mayor’s once per term budget and to reject the Mayor’s draft statutory strategies.

(3) The London Assembly shall investigate issues of importance to Londoners and publish its findings and recommendations.

(4) The Assembly shall vote on bills submitted by members of the London Assembly. A simple majority is needed for a bill to be sent to the Mayor of London to be signed or vetoed.

(5) The number of members of the London Assembly shall be subject to change at the discretion of the Speakership.

(6) The Chair of the Assembly shall have the following duties and powers:

(i) The Chair of the London Assembly shall be in charge of the London Assembly and shall put bills up for vote.

(ii) The Chair of the London Assembly shall be able to vote on bills and will break the deadlock if there is a draw between the ayes and the nays.

(iii) The Chair of the London Assembly shall choose two members of the London Assembly to be their deputy and carry out the Chair of the London Assembly’s duty when the Chair of the London Assembly is not available.

(iv) If the Chair of the London Assembly leaves the position of Chair of the London Assembly a new Chair of the London Assembly election shall be held.

(7) The London Assembly shall vote on a Chair of the Assembly using the alternative vote system.

(i) Members of the London Assembly shall rank the candidates for Chair of the London Assembly in order of preference.

(ii) The ranking system starts at 1 for the most prefered candidate. The higher the number the less prefered a candidate is.

(iii) When the Chair of the London Assembly vote closes, the vote shall be counted up. If a candidate has more than 50%, that candidate shall be elected as the Chair of the London Assembly.

(iv) If there is no candidate with 50% of the vote, distribute the next preference votes of the candidate with the lowest number of votes. If there is a tie, distribute both lowest ranked candidates votes at the same time. Repeat until one candidate gains 50% of the vote.

(8) The London Assembly shall vote for a Majority and Minority Leader using the alternative vote system.

(i) If the Majority or Minority Leader leaves the position of either the Majority or Minority Leader a new Majority and Minority Leader election shall be held.

(9) The London Assembly shall contain Constituency Members of the London Assembly. The London Assembly shall also contain London-Wide Members of the London Assembly.

6. Constituency Members of the London Assembly.

(1) Constituents shall have only one vote for their Constituency Member of the London Assembly.

(2) Candidates for in a Greater London constituency shall be elected on party lists and seats are distributed using the d’Hondt system.

(3) If a candidate is elected as a Constituency Member of the London Assembly, the seat belongs to the party they are affiliated with. If they are an elected independent, it belongs with the independent candidate.

(4) Constituency Members of the London Assembly shall vote on bills submitted to the Assembly.

(5) Constituencies and the number of Constituency Members of the London Assembly shall be subject to change at the discretion of the Speakership but will remain the same as the General Election constituencies.

7. London-Wide Members of the London Assembly.

(1) Parties shall be allocated a number of London-Wide Members of the London Assembly to ensure that each party gains a proportionate number of members of the London Assembly according to each party's vote count.

(2) After each party is allocated their appropriate number of London-Wide Members of the London Assembly, the party shall select which candidates become London-Wide Members of the London Assembly by the means they deem appropriate.

(3) London-Wide Members of the London Assembly shall vote on bills submitted to the Assembly.

(4) The number of London-Wide Members of the London Assembly shall be subject to change at the discretion of the Speakership.

8. Location of the Greater London Authority.

(i) The Greater London Authority shall be located at City Hall, in Southwark, London.

9. First Election of the Greater London Authority

(1) There shall be a first election of the Greater London Authority three weeks from the act coming into force upon enactment.

(2) The first election shall be conducted using the method stated in this bill. Only Greater London constituents and new voters shall be able to vote in the first election of the Greater London Authority.

(3) All elections after the first election shall continue the normal pattern and will take place three weeks after a General Election.

10. Commencement, Short Title, and Extent

(1) This act extends to whole of the United Kingdom.

(2) This act shall come into force immediately upon enactment.

(3) This act may be cited as the Greater London Authority Act (2015).

This bill was submitted by /u/ElliottC99 as a Private Member's Bill.

Voting on this bill will end on the 8 January 2016 at 10PM GMT.

Vote Aye, Nay or Abstain. Comments with anything else will be deleted. Comments that are edited will be void and not counted.

If a member is voting by proxy, they must have gained permission from the speaker prior to this vote. If no permission was sought and granted, their vote will not be counted.