Clause 24
Greater London Authority Bill
2:30 pm
Michael Gove (Shadow Minister (Housing), Communities and Local Government; Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I understand from my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, Central, who serves on the assembly, that there is an appetite among assembly members for the chance to influence the strategy. Extending this power to the assembly would be in its interest. Politicians occasionally feel that they are overburdened, but I cannot imagine that any part of policy is more important than the future of the NHS and I cannot imagine anyone who is better fitted to influence the Mayor when it comes to adopting this strategy than my hon. Friends the Members for Bromley and Chislehurst and for Croydon, Central. In fact, both my hon. Friends have mentioned that the need for a greater degree of public involvement in shaping health strategies lies behind an amendment that they have tabled on a different part of the Bill. The power to shape or influence that strategy would be useful because of the scale of the health challenges faced by Londoners. London has specific problems that would be best addressed by the collective endeavour of all those involved in the assembly, as well as the Mayor.
When the Labour party rewrote clause IV of its manifesto, the authors of the rewritten clause IV said that we achieve more by collective endeavour than on our own. It is in that spirit that this amendment is tabled.