The Guardian reports a motion that passed through the London Assembly today with a 12-5 majority. Four of the eleven Tory Assembly Members voted in favour of the motion backing the idea of London-wide amnesty for illegal immigrants. The remaining votes in favour came from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Greens.
Four Conservatives AM voted against: the group leader Roger Evans, Tony Arbour, Gareth Bacon and Richard Tracey. The deputy mayor Richard Barnes formally abstained and two other Conservatives are reported to have left the chamber prior to the vote.
The proposal to call for an amnesty from central government was adopted by Boris Johnson during his campaign to be Mayor, in a departure from national party policy. More recently it was advocated by the Mayor’s new head of policy.
14 October update: The original Guardian story – which appears to have been edited – reported some Tory, Labour, Lib Dem and Green members voting in favour, with four Tories voting against and three abstaining or leaving the chamber. No official record is kept by the London Assembly to confirm this, but we are told (see comments) that in fact rather than voting in favour, the remaining four Tories who did not vote against, abstain or leave the chamber, were not present to vote in the first place.