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 super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject the Mayor's draft statutory strategies. The London Assembly was established in 2000 and meets at City Hall on the south bank of the River Thames, close to Tower Bridge. The Assembly is also able to investigate other issues of importance to Londoners, publish its findings and recommendations, and make proposals to the Mayor.
Assembly Members
The Assembly comprises 25 Assembly 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 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 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 £59,000.
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 will be 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. At the 2017 UK general election, the Conservative Party manifesto proposed changes to 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 it is generally assumed that the 2020 election, which has been delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be held on the current electoral system of MMP 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, though Kurten still remains a member of UKIP. In March 2019, following Tom Copley and Fiona Twycross departure to full-time Deputy Mayor roles, Murad Qureshi and Alison Moore replaced them as Labour Assembly Members, the term of office having been extended from May 2020 to May 2021, due to no elections being held during the COVID-19 pandemic.