It's Democracy Time Again...........
The local government elections on the 6 th May in England and Wales are a welcome return to normality in what is, with many imperfections, a democratic nation. In England around 145 local councils are holding elections. 13 directly elected mayors will be elected in addition to the Mayor of London and 25 members of the London Assembly. This latter body is a strange one. When it was conceived the guiding principle seemed to be that it should have no powers and should not, in any way, look like the Greater London Council which was abolished in 1986. The London Assembly exists to hold the Mayor to account. It does not perform the functions that are normally associated with a local authority. Despite the fact that most members are dutiful and hard working, I don’t know any Londoners who can name a single Assembly member. It is elected by a form of proportional representation, viz the Additional Member System with a modified D’Hondt allocation. Such systems are probabl