Tomorrow’s levelling up white paper is a chance to correct some of the myths about London. It’s a commonly held misconception beyond the M25 that the city is full of wealthy people living in large houses. That one in four Londoners live in poverty and the unemployment rate is higher than average is rarely mentioned.
But expectations for the white paper are low. To date, levelling up has been hostile towards London and existing funds have largely overlooked the city’s needs. If the sceptics are to be confounded, four things need to be in tomorrow’s white paper.
First, accepting that levelling up applies everywhere, including London. Many of those most in need live in the capital and must not be ignored, but London’s problems are also very different to elsewhere. Ministers see access to opportunity as key, and believe the solution is ensuring there are more well-paid jobs close to where people live.
But, in London, where some of the UK’s poorest communities sit cheek-by-jowl with skyscrapers in the City and Canary Wharf, proximity to opportunities alone is not enough. Levelling up here needs sophisticated interventions in early years, improvements to school and college attainment, and through raising aspiration.
Second, handing London more devolution. As London already has a mayor, the Government dismiss devolution as job done. But London needs more control over skills, education, economic development, and business support to solve its own challenges.
Third, break the Treasury’s stranglehold on taxes and spending. End Whitehall’s obsession with designing new pots of money, wasteful competitive bidding between towns and cities and opaque decisions over who receives funding. Instead, give London freedom to innovate on how funding and taxation work best for the city.
Fourth, more honesty from ministers about London. It is worrying how many people believe London must decline if other parts of the country are to succeed. The Government must be honest with the British public how a poorer London means a poorer UK and instead champion the benefits London as an international economic powerhouse brings to the country.
This will require ministers to defend sustained investment in London’s infrastructure and housing and funding for Transport for London, without which there’s no guarantee the city continues to succeed and be a generous cash cow for the Treasury.
