Tories, Greens and Lib Dems form unlikely alliance on London Assembly

he Tories, Greens and Lib Dems have formed an unlikely alliance on the London Assembly in a deal that will dramatically reduce Labour’s power on committees.

The three political parties said they tried to secure a four party agreement for chairing committees based around the proportion of seats each group has on the London Assembly.

Their plan would have allowed Labour to chair five committees, the Conservatives four, Greens one and the Liberal Democrats one in the first year of this administration.

The new coalition claim that Labour decided to walk away from any agreement and refused to chair any committees.

However, Labour blasted the Greens and Lib Dems for “getting into bed with the Tories” and “betraying their progressive values”.

It means that despite being the largest party in City Hall - with 11 members - Labour will not be taking up any chair and deputy chair positions.

The Conservatives have nine seats, the Greens three, and the Liberal Democrats two. It means no one party commands a majority on the Assembly.

One London Labour party source was not happy that the party did not strike a deal with a smaller party and told the Standard: “They’ve done over the Mayor’s office and they’ve done over themselves.”

Len Duvall, leader of the London Assembly Labour group, said: “We don’t have to chair any committee to play a full part in scrutiny. We’re told by the coalition that they want us to play a full role in scrutiny – which is what we fully intend to do – but it remains to be seen if they’ll be true to their word.”

This story is being updated…