As reported in our news section Boris Johnson has been accused of displaying ‘ignorance of mayoral and London Assembly powers’ after apparently misunderstanding the role of the Assembly in setting the GLA budget.
However it would be remiss not to highlight that, his apparent blunder aside, Johnson is right to express dismay at the prospect of far-right candidates being elected to the Assembly. It’s hard to imagine a worse message this city to send our to the world.
That said, Johnson’s EDM suggests a serious lack of understanding of the job he’s applying for. This was easily avoided error, all anyone in his campaign needed to do was ask one of the Tory AMs or read the GLA’s website which clearly states:
“It is the Mayor who sets the budgets unless the London Assembly can achieve a two-thirds majority in favour of alternative budget proposals.”
Boris could even have popped to the Commons library and looked at a copy of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 which states:
“The Mayor will be responsible for setting a budget for the GLA and its four functional bodies…”
“The Assembly will consider the budget for the GLA and the four functional bodies, and will be able to overrule either all or part of the Mayor’s proposals by a two-thirds majority.”
Boris is either being poorly briefed or he’s running under researched initiatives off his own back. Either way he risks seriously undermining his credibility long before official campaigning gets underway.
