TMP Online

Many congratulations to Jennette Arnold AM (left) who was last week elected as Chair of the London Assembly, becoming the first black woman elected to the post.

The Greater London Authority has a total budget of £11 billion and it is the London Assembly which is the body responsible for holding the Mayor of London to account for how he administers this budget on policing and community safety, transport, fire and the other strategic areas of capital city responsibly.

Jennette was born on the ‘small’ Caribbean Island of Montserrat, where her extended family-home in Long Ground was destroyed in 1996 by the Souffriere volcano.

Ms Arnold said:
“It is a great honour to be elected as Chair of the London Assembly and particularly to be the first black woman to hold the post. This is symbolic of London’s greatest strengths – its diversity, tolerance, inclusion and opportunity for all. That opportunity has enabled me, the daughter of migrants, to rise to hold one of the highest offices in our great city. It’s been a long road from Long Ground to City Hall!
“The occasion brings me special pleasure coming so soon after my role-model and uncle Sir Howard Fergus stood down as Speaker of the Montserrat Assembly and as Deputy Governor.
“I look forward to leading the London Assembly in our key role of holding the Mayor to account for the pledges he has made to London. I aim to work with all colleagues who show themselves interested in moving London forward in a progressive way”.

Ms Arnold was elected to the London Assembly constituency seat for North East London with a majority of over 28,000. This more than doubled her majority from the 2004 result. The constituency covers Hackney, Islington and Waltham Forest and is home to a hugely diverse community with over 200 different cultures. In 2007 she was listed among the top 50 of Britain’s most powerful Black Women, published by the New Nation newspaper, and appeared in the Evening Standard’s list of the 1000 most influential Londoners.