ECONOMY, BUSINESS AND WORK
London is the engine of the British economy and the beating heart of its enterprise. A Mayor exists to back the businesses that create the jobs, defend the industries the world envies, and get out of the way of Londoners who want to work, build and succeed. This chapter is about growth, and growth is what pays for everything else in this document.
12.1 The high street
- The London high street re-imagined for the e-commerce era, with a funded programme to bring vacant units back into use.Indicative cost: thirty-five million pounds annually.
- Increased grants and stimulus for small businesses.Indicative cost: sixty million pounds annually.
- Business rates reformed for London’s high streets.Rates policy is set nationally. The Mayor’s evidence and platform are the instruments, and government is the natural partner for cutting the burden on shops.
12.2 The City, the wider economy and Europe
London is a global financial capital and it must stay one. Leaving the European Union was a national decision that this office does not revisit; questions of membership are not a mayoral matter. But the Mayor can and should be the loudest voice for the practical arrangements that let London’s economy thrive, above all a deeper trading relationship with our nearest market.
- London made the financial capital of Europe once again, promoted relentlessly city to city.Promotion and convening through London & Partners and the Mayor’s international platform. Indicative cost: fifteen million pounds annually.
- Deeper trade and market access with Europe, pressed on government, including the case for closer alignment with the single market where it serves London’s economic interest.Trade policy is reserved to government. The Mayor supplies the economic evidence and makes London’s case for reducing friction on goods, services and financial-services access, for the growth and jobs it brings the capital and the country. This is about economic benefit, not constitutional membership.
- A youth mobility and touring-artists arrangement with the EU, so that young Londoners and our creative industries can work and perform across the continent.Negotiated by government. The Mayor makes the London case, backed by the sectors that depend on it.
- London’s visitor economy rebuilt, with the West End, our theatres, museums and night-time economy promoted worldwide.Indicative cost: twenty million pounds annually.
- Tax-free shopping for international visitors restored.A Treasury decision. The Mayor can supply the London economic evidence, and it is substantial.
- London’s financial-services competitiveness defended, and disproportionate regulation resisted.An FCA and PRA matter. The Mayor advocates on behalf of the sector.
- A fair aviation contribution to London, levied per passenger.Aviation taxation is reserved. A per-passenger mechanism is the lawful basis on which the case can be made.
12.3 Skills and young workers
- Youth talent retained through devolved skills and adult education funding, focused on ages twenty-one to thirty-five.The adult education budget is devolved to the Mayor and is one of the most under-used powers of the office. Indicative budget: provisionally three hundred and twenty million pounds annually.
- Relief for London graduates through rent and travel support.Income tax relief is a Treasury matter. Direct rent and travel support achieves a comparable effect within mayoral power. Indicative cost: twenty-five million pounds annually.
- The London Living Wage encouraged across the GLA group and its supply chain.Applied within the GLA group and its substantial supply chain. Championed, not compelled, beyond it.
- London’s workers helped to adapt to automation, with retraining delivered through devolved education funding.Retraining is direct. Transition commitments are sought from major employers.