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Greater London Authority Bill

I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in the debate. I must say to the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, that if the GLA is a unique animal, I hope that she would at least allow the insertion of ““regional””, because the GLA is a unique regional animal, even if it is not a regional body. However, perhaps we can discuss that outside the Committee. I cannot claim to be wholly surprised by the Government’s response, but I do feel that they have completely failed to acknowledge the lack of accountability to which the noble Lord, Lord Harris, has referred a couple of times. The theory is undoubtedly, as the Minister has explained, that MPs can ask questions, via Ministers, of the government office. The truth is that there is no regular, sustained scrutiny of any government regional office anywhere in England. London is no different from the rest, and the Bill will make no difference to that. As I said, we are not wholly surprised by the Minister’s response. We will take her comments away and consider what we want to do on Report. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.