• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

I think it would be a very bad step for London, and I wonder whether you would agree with me, if you do have to intervene on what might be perceived to be a partisan basis. What we need to do is to get the boroughs to unite and support a common strategy for voter registration. The point about churn in London is a very important one, certainly in the area I represent; there is a massive change in people from year to year. In one borough, up to 16% of people change from one year to the next. We...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

Can I say that I think I agree with the thrust of John [Biggs, AM]'s questions. In our boroughs, is it not the fact that electoral registration is a highly professional activity and certainly I am sure the electoral registration officials in Lambeth will be dismayed to see what is a simplistic political attack on what is a Liberal Democrat/Tory led council because that decision will have been taken on advice. Are you aware, certainly from my own knowledge as a former Lambeth Councillor, that the borough has always had a very inclusive policy on electoral registration? Indeed it had...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

I respect that that may need to happen, but I take it that there is what I call a dual-track approach to this, which is that on the one hand you are indicating that you might decide that intervention is necessary, but on the other hand, we need urgently to talk through the ALG to see whether we can hammer out an understanding with the boroughs. That is not, to use Toby Harris' phrase, `putting our tanks on their lawn', it is about giving people their civil rights as Londoners. I am sure the Assembly would unite with you in...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

I was not going to mention it but I see that John [Biggs, AM] has. We all agree, and I hope you will accept the importance of the electoral register and making sure that it's up to date and accurate. If you were genuinely concerned about that fact rather than about scoring points, you would have checked your facts. I have now got some new information. Will you condemn in equally strong terms as you did previously, the fact that Hackney does not do a door-to-door registration? Will you condemn the fact that Haringey does not do a door registration...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

I just want to comment briefly on the voter registration issue because it is either a puff of wind that will fade away or else it is an issue of massive importance for Londoners. I have two questions for you. The first is, would you agree that the question of whether there are deceased people on the register is a red herring? The fundamental question is whether people, through administrative reasons, or political reasons, or neglect or whatever, are being denied their civil rights to register as voters. The second question is would any mayor, other than a corrupt mayor...

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

Could you push Thames Water to perhaps take some more of the cost in building the interceptor tunnel?

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

I was also wondering, given that we have had extremely low rainfall this year, and it may be that this summer our rivers are going to be running very low, that when we do get any sudden downpours that we have had, am I correct in thinking that the damage to the rivers could be that much worse?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

There is a combined bit where three of the north London sewers actually come out a few hundred metres from the Olympics site. Therefore, there could very well be real problems. It seems to me that there has not been enough planning about how to actually solve these things. We have fish kills every three or four months. We have raw sewage going into the river Thames, and somehow, the measures just do not come up to dealing with the problem.

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

Can I just clarify? Are you confident with your negotiations with Government that this problem will be sorted by the time the Olympics happen in 2012?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 21 February 2006

Bob Neill [AM] I think has highlighted the paradox at the heart of this question which is that people who have airports quite often do not want to keep them but people who do not tend to be desperate to have them because of their massive economic regenerative capacity; the benefit to the Docklands has been phenomenal because of London City Airport. The question is, first of all, I am sure you will recognise that there is a minority ' probably not along party political lines ' within the Assembly who do support expansion at Heathrow and the fundamental reason...