UKIP Assembly member Peter Hulme Cross used last week’s Mayor’s Question Time to question the cost of ‘London House’, the GLA’s office in Brussells. Opened by the Mayor in November 2001, London House is described on the GLA Website as “an essential mechanism for linking the London and EU tiers of governance.”
Mr Hulme Cross asked the Mayor why he was “spending money on a lobbying process” which has “no power or access” and no formal or legal standing in the EU decision process.
The Mayor claimed that despite the lack of formal influence the staff in Brussells did “a very good job” and had already proven their worth by helping to stop an EU proposal which would have required the tendering for transport services every 3 years. The Mayor said such a move would have led to the “privatisation of service delivery” on the London Underground.
