A new Prime Minister must give London a hearing in Downing Street
That the farcical fights over Transport for London have dragged on this long tells us everything we need to know about Westminster’s relationship with London.
When Boris Johnson was elected it was on a mandate of “levelling up” – a victory which often made our capital city, and the south east in general, a useful political punching bag.
But next Monday will spell a new dawn when the next leader of the Conservative Party is finally announced. All sides – including City Hall – must put aside the tensions which have characterised a relationship which could and should be beneficial to both sides.
This evening, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss will bring their hustings back to London and when they do so they must spell out exactly how they plan to reset the bonds between SW1 and City Hall – and demonstrate they understand the capital’s needs.
First, there must be an emergency package for small businesses, from pubs and hairdressers to boutiques and theatres. All make the capital a global city – all are at risk from rising costs.
At the other end of the scale, our financial services and fintech firms cannot wait any longer for post-Brexit reforms to be finalised and implemented.
The anti-London rhetoric must also come to an end. London is the UK’s golden goose – but it has problems that cannot be ignored simply because they are happening here, not in Hull. When London succeeds, so does the UK.
Finally, we must redefine what it means to “take back control” of our immigration system with more relaxed rules to keep the best talent coming to our shores. It has become cheap political fodder to simply label anyone calling for more nimble rules “remainers”. But it was Boris Johnson who tried to ban the word “Brexit” back in 2020.
Old divisions must not rule our future and prevent us from seeing what works and what doesn’t. London has grown and prospered off the back of industrious types from Hartlepool to Hyderabad, from Birmingham to Brisbane – and benefited the rest of the world in kind.