Boris adviser’s secret plans to crush Assembly’s independence
Boris Johnson’s chief exec is stepping up plans to steamroller the independence of the London Assembly - the body set up to scrutinise the Mayor & Executive.
The independence of the London Assembly is under threat following the revelation that Boris Johnson placeman Leo Boland, chief executive of the Greater London Authority, is seeking powers “to monitor and review all official scrutiny reports produced by the Assembly”.
Documents leaked to journalist and blogger Tory Troll state that Mr Boland wishes to:
“Review draft scrutiny reports before their publication for the purposes of providing quality control and oversight of the written output from the Authority.
“This opportunity for review would be personal to the Chief Executive and would not be delegated to any other officer.”
His justification for this is:
(a). “It would provide the Chief Executive with direct oversight and input into the quality of scrutiny reports.”
(b). “The Chief Executive would be aware of reports before their publication, and would be able to anticipate any potential issues of conflict or controversy.”
Such measures, if approved, would appear to call into question the very purpose of the legislature – as set out in its Mission Statement, which reads:
“The London Assembly holds the Mayor of London to account and investigates issues that matter to Londoners. Its 25 members are elected at the same time as the Mayor.
“The Assembly works by directly questioning the Mayor about his activities, strategies and decisions. It also publishes the findings and recommendations from its investigations and makes proposals to the Mayor.”
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