Greater London Authority Act 1999

Supplementary provisions

28 Declaration of acceptance of office

(1) A person elected to the office of Mayor or of an Assembly member shall not act in that office unless—

(a) he has made a declaration of acceptance of the office in a form prescribed in an order made by the Secretary of State; and

(b) within two months from the day of the election, the declaration has been delivered to the proper officer of the Authority.

(2) If such a declaration is not made and delivered to that officer within that time, the office of the person elected shall become vacant at the expiration of that time.

(3) The declaration shall be made before—

(a) two members of the Assembly;

(b) the proper officer of the Authority;

(c) a justice of the peace or magistrate in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man; or

(d) a commissioner appointed to administer oaths in the Supreme Court.

(4) Any person before whom a declaration is authorised to be made under this section may take the declaration.

(5) In relation to the first ordinary election, an order under section 3(4) above may make provision with respect to the making and delivery of declarations of acceptance of office in the case of the persons elected as the Mayor or Assembly members.

(6) An order made by virtue of subsection (5) above may (in particular) make provision—

(a) permitting declarations to be made before such person (other than those specified in subsection (3) above) as may be specified or described in the order;

(b) authorising any person specified or described under paragraph (a) above to take declarations;

(c) requiring declarations to be delivered to such person as may be specified or described in the order instead of the officer mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above; and

(d) requiring declarations delivered in accordance with provision made under paragraph (c) above to be transmitted to the proper officer of the Authority when one has been appointed.

(7) No salary, and no payment towards the provision of superannuation benefits, shall be paid under this Act to or in respect of the Mayor or an Assembly member until he has complied with the requirements of subsection (1) above.

(8) Subsection (7) above does not affect any entitlement of the Mayor or an Assembly member to payments in respect of the period before he complies with the requirements of subsection (1) above once he has complied with those requirements.

(9) This section applies in relation to a London member returned otherwise than at an election as if he had been elected on the day on which he is to be treated as returned.

29 Interpretation of Part I

In this Part, except where the context otherwise requires—

• “constituency returning officer” means the returning officer at an election of an Assembly member for an Assembly constituency (see section 35(2B) of the Representation of the [1983 c. 2.] People Act 1983);

• “constituency vote” has the meaning given by section 4(1)(b) above;

• “elector” has the same meaning as in the Representation of the [1983 c. 2.] People Act 1983 (see section 202(1) of that Act);

• “first preference vote” has the meaning given in paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to this Act;

• “Greater London returning officer” means the person who is for the time being the proper officer of the Authority for the purposes of section 35(2C) of the Representation of the [1983 c. 2.] People Act 1983 (returning officer at elections of Mayor and London members);

• “local government elector” means a person registered as a local government elector in the register of electors in accordance with the provisions of the Representation of the People Acts;

• “the London figure”, subject to the other provisions of this Part, has the meaning given by paragraph 6(3) of Schedule 2 to this Act;

• “London vote” has the meaning given by section 4(1)(c) above;

• “mayoral vote” has the meaning given by subsection (1)(a) of section 4 above (as read with subsection (3) of that section);

• “registered political party” has the meaning given by section 4(11) above;

• “second preference vote” has the meaning given in paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to this Act;

• “vote” and “voter” have the same meaning as in the Representation of the [1983 c. 2.] People Act 1983 (see section 202(1) of that Act).