Term length Four years Deputy Joanne McCartney | Inaugural holder Ken Livingstone | |
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Style No courtesy or style ascribed Appointer Electorate of Greater London Formation | ||
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. The current mayor is Sadiq Khan, who took up office on 9 May 2016. The position had been held by Ken Livingstone from the creation of the role on 4 May 2000 until he was defeated in 2008 by Boris Johnson, who served two terms before being succeeded by Khan.
Contents
- Map of London UK
- Background
- Elections
- Most recent election
- Powers and functions
- Ken Livingstone
- Boris Johnson
- Salary
- References
Map of London, UK
The role, created in 2000 after the London devolution referendum, was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom.
The Mayor of London is the mayor of the entirety of Greater London, including the City of London, for which there is also the ceremonial Lord Mayor of the City of London. Each London Borough also has a ceremonial mayor or, in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham or Tower Hamlets, an elected mayor.
Background
The Greater London Council, the elected governance for Greater London, was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985. Strategic functions were split off to various joint arrangements. Londoners voted in a referendum in 1998 to create new governance structures for Greater London. The directly elected Mayor of London was created by the Greater London Authority Act 1999 in 2000 as part of the reforms.
Elections
The Mayor is elected by the supplementary vote method for a fixed term of four years, with elections taking place in May. As with most elected posts in the UK, there is a deposit, in this case of £10,000 which is returnable on the candidate's winning at least 5% of the first-choice votes cast.
Most recent election
The most recent London mayoral election was held on 5 May 2016. The results were announced on 7 May at 00:30 despite British TV news channel Sky News announcing Sadiq Khan as the winner hours earlier.
Incumbent Mayor Boris Johnson did not run for re-election for a third term in office, as he was elected the Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the 2015 general election.
Powers and functions
Most powers are derived from the Greater London Authority Act 1999 with additional functions coming from the Greater London Authority Act 2007, the Localism Act 2011 and Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.
The main functions are:
The remaining local government functions are performed by the London borough councils. There is some overlap, for example the borough councils are responsible for waste management, but the mayor is required to produce a waste management strategy. In 2010 the Mayor launched an initiative in partnership with the Multi-academy Trust AET to transform schools across London. This led to the establishment of London Academies Enterprise Trust (LAET) which was intended to be a group of 10 Academies, but it only reached a group of 4 before the Mayor withdrew in 2013.
Ken Livingstone
Initiatives taken by Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London included the London congestion charge on private vehicles using city centre London on weekdays, the creation of the London Climate Change Agency, the London Energy Partnership and the founding of the international Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, now known as C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. The congestion charge led to many new buses being introduced across London. In 2003 Livingstone oversaw the introduction of the Oyster card electronic ticketing system for Transport for London services.
They have also included the London Partnerships Register which was a voluntary scheme without legal force for same-sex couples to register their partnership, and paved the way for the introduction by the United Kingdom Parliament of civil partnerships. Unlike civil partnerships, the London Partnerships Register was open to heterosexual couples who favour a public commitment other than marriage.
As Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone was also a supporter of the London Olympics in 2012, and is known to encourage sport in London; especially when sport can be combined with helping UK charities-like The London Marathon and British 10K charity races. However, Livingstone, in a Mayoral election debate on the BBC's Question Time in April 2008 did state that the primary reason he supported the Olympic bid was to secure funding for the redevelopment of the East End of London. In the summer of 2007 he brought the Tour de France cycle race to London.
Boris Johnson
In May 2008, Boris Johnson introduced a new transport safety initiative to put 440 high-visibility police officers on bus hubs and the immediate vicinity. A ban on alcohol on underground, bus, Docklands Light Railway, and tram services and stations across the capital was announced.
Also in May 2008, Boris Johnson announced the closure of The Londoner newspaper, saving approximately £2.9 million. A percentage of this saving will be spent on planting 10,000 new street trees.
In 2010 Boris Johnson extended the coverage of Oyster card electronic ticketing to all National Rail overground train services.
Also in 2010 Boris Johnson opened a cycle hire scheme (originally sponsored by Barclays, now Santander) with 5,000 bicycles available for hire across London. The scheme gained the nickname of "Boris Bikes" by both Londoners and members of the various media.
In 2011 Boris Johnson set up the Outer London Fund, a money pot of up to £50 million designed to help facilitate better, more effective local high streets. Areas in London were given the chance to submit proposals for two separate pots of money, which would be granted to them if their bid was successful. Successful bids for Phase 1 included Enfield, Muswell Hill and Bexley Town Centre. The recipients of Phase 2 funding are still to be announced.
In January 2013 Boris Johnson appointed journalist Andrew Gilligan as the first Cycling Commissioner for London.
In March 2013 Boris Johnson announced £1 billion of investment in infrastructure to make cycling safer in London, including a 15-mile (24 km) East-West segregated 'Crossrail for bikes'.
At the General Election of 7 May 2015, Boris Johnson was elected as MP for Uxbridge and Ruislip South with 50.2% of the vote on a turnout of 63.4%, and he continued to serve until the mayoral election in May 2016, when Sadiq Khan was elected as his successor.
Salary
The Mayor of London's salary is £143,911 per year, which is similar to that of a Government Cabinet minister.