Public and Commercial Services Union

London Assembly members are contactable by email and are used to dealing with correspondence received in this way (although a letter will sometimes carry more weight).

Their email addresses follow the formula firstname.surname@london.gov.uk.

Full contact details for each Assembly Member can be obtained by logging on to the ‘London Assembly Members’ page on the Assembly’s website and clicking on the individual member in whom you are interested.

Most Assembly Members have offices at the Assembly and can be contacted by writing to them at:
GLA
City Hall
The Queen's Walk
London SE1 2AA

Responsibilities of the London Assembly

The Mayor has a range of specific powers and duties, and a general power to do anything that will promote economic and social development, and environmental improvement, in London. Before using many of his powers the Mayor must consult with Londoners, and in all cases, the Mayor must promote equality of opportunity.

The Mayor has responsibility for developing policy and liaising with the government and London councils on a variety of issues including:

• Crime, policing and emergencies
• Culture,
• Economic policy,
• Education,
• Environment and climate change,
• Equality and diversity,
• Health,
• Housing,
• International,
• Planning and development,
• Sustainability and
• Transport

The London Assembly holds the Mayor to account and investigates issues that matter to Londoners.

Constituency and London wide Assembly members

The electoral system used to elect the members is complex. It takes account of the London Boroughs (grouped for this purpose into 14 constituencies), party lists and independent candidates, and is designed to produce a distribution of seats proportional to the total votes cast across London.

The votes cast at the 2004 election produced 9 Conservative members, 7 Labour members, 5 Liberal Democrat members, 2 Green Party members and 2 UK Independence Party members. The 2 UK Independence Party Members have now formed the One London Group.
 

To find out details of the London wide members and constituency map of London visit the London Assembly website 

Meeting your elected representative

When meeting a politician it is best to be clear about what you want to get out of the meeting. So be as clear, courteous and brief as possible – let them know exactly what it is you want them to do. Try to make sure you:

• introduce yourself and say where you live and work
• thank him or her for seeing you
• establish how much time you have
• clearly and simply explain the background to our campaigns as they may be unaware of some of the issues involved
• make sure you give local examples of how you or your members have been affected by delegated and low pay, job cuts, privatisation or the increased use of consultants. For example if you are addressing concerns regarding job cuts you may want to talk about our concerns as well as specific service delivery problems in your area
• Remember, while the politician may not be sympathetic to our national concerns over civil service pay, job cuts, privatisation and the increased use of consultants, they are likely to be concerned about proposals that directly affect their constituency/ward
• Most importantly, ask the politician if they support our campaign and what they are specifically prepared to do, such as lobby MPs/Ministers on our behalf. Ask them to keep in regular contact with you and to give you copies of any responses they receive. You may also want to ask them if they are prepared to publicly support our campaign and if they would like to attend workplace meetings or visit picket lines. This is an excellent way of getting wider publicity for our campaign
   

After meeting politicians

We suggest that branches follow a meeting with any elected representative up with a letter outlining our concerns and what the MP/MSP/AM/MLA or London Assembly member agreed to do. Its also good practice to keep them informed of any developments so you can illicit further support if required.

It is important we know which politicians have been lobbied and whether they are supportive. Therefore, after your meeting with them, please contact your regional office to let them know how your meeting went.