Tag Archives: london assembly

Opinion: Are the Government in danger of recreating the GLC by the back-door?

By Laura Willoughby | Published 10th March 2011 - 3:47 pm

When is localism not localism? When it comes to London apparently!

As the Localism Bill makes its way through its committee stages in the House of Commons the clauses that have an impact on London were rushed and hardly discussed on Tuesday afternoon.

This is unfortunate because this is the one part of the bill where the idea of localism is stopped dead in its tracks. In contrast to the localist approach applied across England in the rest of the bill, when it comes to London it seems that devolution stops at a regional level.

There are three specific proposals in the …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Also tagged | Leave a comment

Lib Dem candidates for the London Assembly

By Richard Davis | Published 6th November 2010 - 2:32 pm

Below you will find a list of the Lib Dem candidates currently standing for the London Assembly along with their online media.

Candidate

Webpage

Twitter

Facebook

Email

YouTube

Flikr
Jeremy Ambache Jeremy Website @Jeremy4London Facebook Flickr
Steve Bradley Steve Website
Emily Davey Emily Website @emilygasson
Merlene Emerson Merlene Website @merleneemerson Facebook YouTube
Bridget Fox Bridget Website @BridgetFox Facebook YouTube
Stephen Knight Stephen Website
Ajmal Masroor Ajmal Website @AjmalMasroor Facebook
Caroline

…

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Posted in Local government | 1 Comment

London Liberal Democrats announce GLA shortlist for 2012

By Helen Duffett | Published 19th October 2010 - 11:09 am

London Region Liberal Democrats have announced the candidates for the London Assembly top-up list for the 2012 election. The shortlist is now final and London members will now be issued with a ballot to place the candidates in order of preference.

The candidates, in alphabetical order, are:

Jeremy Ambache (M)
Steve Bradley (M)
Emily Davey (F)
Merlene Emerson (F)*
Bridget Fox (F)
Stephen Knight (M)
Ajmal Masroor (M)*
Caroline Pidgeon (F)
Marisha Ray (F)*
Nick Russell (M)
Shas Sheehan (F)*

Those marked with an asterisk are Black and Minority Ethnic for the purpose of the ethnic preference rule.

There will not be a ballot for the Mayoral candidate for the time being. …

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Posted in London, Selection news | 24 Comments

Cleverly disrepects Hughes – where will it end?

By Iain Roberts | Published 19th August 2010 - 2:18 pm

If someone publically told you to shut up and called you a “dick” and a “fool”, would you feel that person was treating you with respect?

Most people would say not, and when it comes to standards boards, the rulings tend to agree. Perfectly OK to say someone’s idea is foolish, but not to call them a fool.

So how to explain a blog post by James Cleverly, who sits on the London Assembly as a Conservative?

Titled “Oh do shut up Simon“, Mr Cleverly lays into Simon Hughes who, it’s safe to say, he doesn’t quite see eye to eye …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , | 23 Comments

Opinion: If we fail to address the image of an all-white party our reputation alone will put off future black and Asian people from joining

By Lester Holloway | Published 30th June 2010 - 12:20 pm

The Liberal Democrats are showing signs of getting serious about tackling the chronic under-representation of black and Asian talent in elected positions – and about time too.

In a groundbreaking move that was sadly unreported, the London Region recently agreed to introduce positive action in a bid to get at least one BAME hopeful onto the London Assembly, a body that represents a city where over a third of the population is from an ethnic minority.

The decision to reserve places – quotas by another name – on the ‘top-up list’ means the Lib Dems have gone further than any other political …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Also tagged , | 131 Comments

Dee Doocey elected chair of London Assembly

By Helen Duffett | Published 13th May 2010 - 9:01 pm

From a news release by the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group:

The London Assembly has today elected Dee Doocey AM as its new Chair for 2010/11. Jennette Arnold AM has been re-elected as Deputy Chair. At their Annual Meeting Assembly Members also re-established a number of committees to examine the Mayor of London’s policies and investigate issues of importance to London.

Chair of the London Assembly Dee Doocey AM said:

“I am honoured that my colleagues have chosen me to lead the Assembly for the year ahead. I will do my utmost to justify their confidence in handing me this

…

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Posted in London, News | Also tagged , | 2 Comments

Caroline Pidgeon is new Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group

By Mark Pack | Published 13th May 2010 - 10:20 am

From a party news release:

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport spokesperson, has become the new leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group.

She takes over from Mike Tuffrey, who has led the group since 2006.

Commenting on future plans for the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group Caroline Pidgeon said:

“The concerns of Londoners are the concerns of Liberal Democrats at City Hall.

“We recognise the vital importance of tackling crime and the fear of crime that affects every area in London. We will continue to be at the forefront of the campaign to protect police numbers and ensure that there …

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Posted in London | Also tagged , | 5 Comments

The grit in the Oyster

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 27th February 2010 - 12:50 pm

London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon sets out how the Mayor of London’s approach to problems with the London Oyster travelcard is a demonstration of Boris Johnsons wider approach to addressing issues that face Londoners:

This week at City Hall I was accused by Boris Johnson of being a “negative Liberal Democrat” when I dared to question him over some of the problems that have happened as a result of the extension of Oyster Pay as You Go to national rail services across London.

Well I stand by my questioning of the Mayor as there is no …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Also tagged , | 7 Comments

LibLink: Mike Tuffrey – No accounting for Boris Johnson

By NewsHound | Published 23rd February 2010 - 6:50 pm

Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free blog, Lib Dem leader in the Greater London Assembly Mike Tuffrey argues that, though the mayor of London made many promises about changing the way the city is governed, nothing has materialised. Here’s an excerpt:

Alas, Johnson’s bold claims to change how London is governed have proved to be largely fanciful. The specific promise to introduce a cabinet system at city hall – an idea introduced by Livingstone, but afterwards abandoned by him – was quickly dropped, despite my constant probing. …

The mayor has also stopped holding regular press conferences at city hall,

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Electoral Commission heavily criticise report into plans for 2012 London elections

By Mark Pack | Published 2nd October 2009 - 8:55 am

The Electoral Commission has published a report laying out a series of detailed and powerful criticisms of the cost-benefit analysis carried out for the Greater London Returning Officer into the use of e-counting for the 2012 London Mayor and Assembly elections.

However, the Greater London Returning Officer (GLRO) appears determined to go ahead with electronic counting, having told a meeting he had made this decision before even hearing the Electoral Commission’s views and despite even the flawed cost-benefit analysis showing that e-counting is more expensive than manual counting.

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Posted in Election law, London | Also tagged , , | 2 Comments

Richard Tracey: Tory triumph or tall tale?

By Helen Duffett | Published 19th August 2009 - 9:20 am

A Tory London Assembly Member wants his party to take the credit for a brief drop in London’s unemployment figures, while the annual results show a different picture.

Richard Tracey, Conservative London Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth (and a former Conservative Minister and MP for Surbiton) proudly wrote to the South London Press in March 2009:

“London has bucked the tragedy of rising unemployment – it fell between November and January, whereas the UK as a whole saw a rise.

It is no coincidence that unemployment in London has actually fallen in the last three months, given taxpayer-focused Conservative administrations run so much of it.

Richard Tracey

London Assembly member for Merton and Wandsworth”

In a rather desperate attempt to make a political point he grabbed at the very limited unemployment figures between November 2008 and January 2009 for evidence. The letter was even titled ‘Tory Triumph.’

Well, five months later, the Tories must be less triumphant.

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Posted in London, News | Also tagged , | 2 Comments

Looking beyond the Lib Dem ghetto

By James Graham | Published 16th August 2009 - 10:20 am

The Lib Dems have always selected their candidates by “one member one vote” (OMOV). It has always seemed the most logical and transparently fair system, and it is certainly better than having candidates hand-picked by an inner cabal. It still does a fairly good job at selecting candidates for the House of Commons, although as membership levels drop that is becoming less true. But it has been quite inadequate for selecting candidates for larger constituencies, particularly for the European Parliament and London Assembly.

Here’s the fundamental problem: a significant proportion of our members are concentrated in our held and target constituencies. Target seats become target seats because they have a larger pool of activists from which to draw. In turn, in order to become winning seats they have to recruit more activists. The more tightly we focus on target seats, as the Lib Dems certainly have for the past two decades, the more the gap between target seat and what we sometimes euphemistically call “development seats” widens.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , | 24 Comments

London Underground: should lines be completely shut to speed up engineering work?

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 18th July 2009 - 4:47 pm

The London Underground is used by as many people each week as the total number of people who use the nation’s railway network. Caroline Pidgeon sets out why modernising the underground is so important and why new ways of undertaking the upgrades might now be necessary.

At London’s City Hall I’m leading an Assembly investigation into overcrowding on the Tube and what Mayor Boris Johnson can do about it. For many years now Tube passengers have been used to cramming themselves into crowded trains wedged against someone’s armpits. More recently stations like Victoria, King’s Cross, London Bridge and Holborn have had …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Also tagged , , | 8 Comments

Brian Coleman was wined and dined before awarding contract

By Helen Duffett | Published 14th July 2009 - 1:19 pm

Such hospitality – it’s astounding!

Not only did Asset Co treat Brian Coleman (London Assembly Member and Chair of the London Fire Authority) to three dinners and a Harvey Nicks hamper before the LFA awarded it a £12 million contract – but also Mayor Boris Johnson continues to give him house room at City Hall.

After his huge taxi bills and refusal to publish his expenses at the same time as the other Assembly Members, Coleman has outstayed London’s welcome – but when will Boris do something about it?

Adam Bienkov at Tory Troll has the story:

The London Fire Authority have awarded

…

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Posted in London, News | Also tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Brian Coleman in “mad, bad and sad” expenses smokescreen

By Helen Duffett | Published 7th July 2009 - 5:56 pm

London Assembly Member Brian Coleman is refusing to publish details of his expenses, despite the Mayor, his advisors and the other 24 members of the Assembly agreeing to do so voluntarily.

Apparently a graduate of the Anthony Steen Charm School for Politicians, Coleman has blamed bloggers for being interested in how taxpayers’ money is spent:

“I won’t do it voluntarily. It’s none of the public’s business. They have coped well without knowing this kind of detail for more than 75 years. They are not entitled to drool over our personal lives. I’m not going to help the mad, bad and the

…

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Posted in London, News | Also tagged , , , | 4 Comments