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5.4 pm
Mrs. Gillian Shephard (South-West Norfolk): I beg to move, To leave out from 'That' to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:
- 'this House, while welcoming the proposal for a directly elected mayor for Greater London, declines to give a second reading to the Greater London Authority Bill because, instead of creating an Assembly consisting of representatives nominated by each London borough and the Corporation of London, which would best serve London's interests, it provides for the establishment of a directly elected assembly which would diminish the status of the London boroughs and would be likely to lead to conflict between the boroughs and the Greater London Authority; and because, in failing to provide for the transfer of London Underground to the private sector so as to boost investment and in proposing the imposition of new taxes on motorists in London to pay for cuts in central government spending, the Bill offers an inadequate response to the problems of transport in London.'
The Bill is a very substantial piece of legislation--twice the size of the Bills that became the Scotland Act 1998 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 combined--and in effect, as the Secretary of State admitted this afternoon, it will set up a new form of government. It is essentially an experiment, and we have deep concerns about it. Those concerns are expressed in our reasoned amendment, and this evening I intend to outline other areas of concern, which we shall seek to explore and expose in Committee.
The Secretary of State has been very open in his admission that there will need to be quite a lot of clarification in Committee. We are grateful for the fact that he said several times that he would seek to take careful notice of the issues of concern that turned up there.
Our stance will be constructive, because we feel that, if London is to be treated as an experiment for a new type of government, that experiment and that type of government must work. It must work because London's national and international significance cannot be overstated. London is a cosmopolitan community, which reflects all aspects of the human race and human activity, and it is indeed the greatest city on earth. It has a dominant position among the capital cities of the world. Last year, London was voted best city in which to locate a business, best city for external transport links, best city for internal transport and best city for telecommunications. The position of the City of London as the world's leading centre for financial institutions is undisputed.
All that was achieved under 18 years of Conservative Government. In the teeth of the then Labour Opposition, the previous Government freed up London's economy and enabled it to flourish, targeted areas for regeneration, and focused efforts and resources to do so.
I cannot agree with the Secretary of State's remarks about the role of the Greater London council. If anything stood in London's way, it was the Greater London council. It was bloated; it was over-bureaucratic; it spent £2 billion a year to no tangible benefit. It spent a lot of time on gimmick politics. It subsidised underground fares instead of committing to a full programme of investment. Its management of the roads was so bad--
Mr. Livingstone:
Although I have clarified the matter several times, Opposition Members keep repeating the allegation that the wicked old GLC subsidised fares instead of putting money into the capital investment programme. Is the right hon. Lady not aware that the entire capital programme for London Transport was controlled by the Secretary of State for Transport and the Secretary of State for the Environment? They had to give prior approval for any item of capital expenditure. Every year, the Greater London council proposed a major capital works programme to the then Tory Government, and every year it was rejected. We never had the choice of choosing.
Mrs. Shephard:
I think the figures speak for themselves.
The Greater London council managed the roads so badly that the Government had to take them out of its incompetent hands. Above all, the Greater London council was used as a platform--rather like this debate--to call for such things as abolition of the monarchy and more taxes on business. I believe that this debate is being used as a platform by hopeful mayoral candidates.
We were right to abolish the Greater London council; we make no apology for doing so.
Mr. Mike Gapes (Ilford, South):
Given the right hon. Lady's remarks about the roads, can she confirm that, since the Greater London council was abolished, average traffic speeds in London have drastically declined? Is that not an indictment of the policies pursued by Conservative Governments since 1986?
Mrs. Shephard:
The hon. Gentleman should know that the economy of London has boomed since that time. I hope that he does not regret that fact.
Sir Paul Beresford:
I absolutely agree that London has boomed. Strikingly, the improvement in the London economy just happens to have coincided with the disappearance of the Greater London council. My right hon. Friend has not mentioned the dead hand of the GLC on planning; I am sure that she will do so later. Subsequently, some major London sites were freed up, once the Greater London council--whatever its political complexion--was no longer there to kill the plans dead.
Mrs. Shephard:
I agree with my hon. Friend's points. It is curious that before the general election the Labour party told Londoners that it would bring back the Greater London council. It is strange, but there again perhaps it is
The Bill contains 277 clauses that set powers, bureaucracy, rules, orders, functions, standards, regulations, plans, audits and services, establish committees, set charges and levies and provide for a rash of new agencies of dubious accountability--and much, much more. Against that background, we should perhaps pause to wonder.
We recognise that there is a case for a voice for London. That voice will be the mayor's. Her or his voice will speak up for Londoners to national government and for London on the international stage. It was because we recognised the need for a voice for London that we recommended a yes vote in the referendum. The veterans of the Greater London Authority (Referendum) Bill, which was enacted in July, will be well aware that we believed that there should have been two questions in the referendum.
That view, that Londoners should have been allowed by the Government a choice on what the new arrangements for governance would be, was backed--of course, for different reasons--by many in the London Labour party, by London trade unions and by Liberal Democrats. Perhaps if Londoners had been granted that opportunity rather than the somewhat take-it-or-leave-it deal offered by the Government, more than 34 per cent. of Londoners would have been persuaded of the importance of voting. London could then have had a citywide system of government that enjoyed real legitimacy.
Mr. Simon Hughes:
The right hon. Lady was good enough to mention that my party was strongly of the view, as was hers, when we considered the Greater London Authority (Referendum) Bill, that there should have been two questions put before the people of London. Is she now saying that it is the Conservative party's policy that democratic accountability for London government is better exercised by one person--only one person to be elected to represent London and make decisions for London, as opposed to the boroughs--than by even the modest 26 people, 25 in an assembly and one in the form of the mayor, proposed by the Government? Surely the more people, within limits, that we have to represent London, the more democratic will be the voice that Londoners have.
Mrs. Shephard:
I shall explain exactly what our view is on the role of the London boroughs. I rather think that the hon. Gentleman knows what that view is because it remains as it was at the time of the referendum. It will be the task of the House to ensure that as the Bill passes through its stages the concerns that remain are exposed and responded to by the Government.
We are the first to recognise that a mayor cannot exist in isolation. Clearly there must be checks and balances. There must be a body to scrutinise the mayor's activities. The principles on which we shall judge the Bill and scrutinise the Government's proposals in Committee will be those on which we base our approach to all local government. For example, will the proposals set out in the Bill enhance accountability and transparency? Will theyadd to or diminish the democratic process? Will they
encourage people to engage in that process? A few gimmicks such as the people's question time will not be enough and will be seen for what they are.
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