Just Back From City Hall

The new Assembly sat together for the first time this morning. Jennette Arnold AM was elected chair, the voting seemingly setting the mould for a new opposition configuration. She won the support of the eight Labour, two Green and three Liberal Democrat AMs. The eleven Tories backed their own Roger Evans. Richard Barnbrook of the BNP abstained. I'll be writing more about the proceedings for the Guardian later. But let me mention in passing that ex-Mayor Livingstone sat in the public seats throughout. He's also written in the Guardian today:

"As I can testify, May 1 was a bad day for Labour...We lost in London. But in the context of very bad national results, Labour's results in London were the best for any major area of the country. What lessons can be drawn nationally, and what to do next in London? Following May 1 some people are posing the choice as between moving 'to the left' or 'to the right'. This is not the right question. Labour must place itself at the centre of a progressive alliance that can solve the problems facing the country. What are the key elements of this?"

He hasn't gone away, you know. Now read on.