The plans that John Healey announced today to squeeze more from banks will hit London hardest too. Our world-beating financial services sector won’t stay in the City and Canary Wharf for long if it becomes uncompetitive. Instead of letting London’s key business sectors thrive, Labour punishes success, and every time they do, it is Londoners who end up paying, says James Cleverly

London is an amazing city and should be an economic powerhouse, not just in Britain, not just in Europe but across the world. But after a decade of Labour in City Hall and three Labour budgets from Whitehall, our capital is underperforming its potential.

London’s unemployment is 6.6 per cent, higher than the UK average of 4.7 per cent. It has the highest youth unemployment rate of any UK region. Its economy has been slower to recover from the pandemic than elsewhere in Britain and it has the highest poverty rate after housing costs. 

All under a Labour mayor. This is unacceptable.

These statistics have a real and negative impact on Londoners. London is becoming an increasingly expensive place to live, work, and do business.

Londoners already contribute £48.8bn more in tax than we receive in public spending, that’s about £5,000 each, but Labour doesn’t think that’s enough. They keep coming back for more. The Labour government is cutting tens of millions of pounds from successful London boroughs to give to underperforming councils elsewhere, Labour is raising taxes that disproportionately hit Londoners and London businesses.

It is estimated that two thirds of all of the revenue raised by Labour’s new family home property tax will come from just four London boroughs. 

The plans that John Healey announced today to squeeze more from banks will hit London hardest too. Our world-beating financial services sector won’t stay in the City and Canary Wharf for long if it becomes uncompetitive. Instead of letting London’s key business sectors thrive, Labour punishes success, and every time they do, it is Londoners who end up paying. 

I have always believed that London should be allowed to keep more of the money it raises, and while the headlines sound promising I and other Londoners will rightly be sceptical that the plans for business rates and income tax retention, will be another case of Labour giving with one hand whilst taking with the other. 

I welcome the proposals that let London invest in vital infrastructure like the Bakerloo Line extension, but given this Mayor’s shocking building record, Londoners should not get their hopes up for the tube to reach Lewisham any time soon. 

Ultimately, Labour always treats London like a cash cow. Once again they have come knocking for more money from London and its businesses to fund their wasteful spending elsewhere. 

London competes with the world, not the rest of the UK

Andy Burnham thinks London is in competition with the rest of the country, that to give to Manchester he must take from London. He is wrong. London isn’t competing with Manchester, or Birmingham, or Glasgow or Belfast. We are on the same side! London is in competition with Paris, Dubai, Frankfurt, and New York. Labour’s anti-London plans risk holding London back in that global competition

My test for this Budget was whether it laid out a plan to restore London’s economic competitiveness and relieve the pressures on Londoners. It failed that test. The tax burden is reaching new heights, borrowing is up, the debt continues to climb with it, and growth remains pitiful.

London needs a government that will back its businesses to build and invest, its workers to strive and succeed, and its economy to flourish. That’s what I will do

London needs a government that will back its businesses to build and invest, its workers to strive and succeed, and its economy to flourish. That’s what I will do.

I will help harness the strength of London to deliver a stronger economy, helping the whole country. That means backing our businesses, from the local high street stores and pubs to the major financial institutions in the Square Mile and Docklands. Making it easier to hire, invest, and build. 

We will reward success and ensure work always pays for all. We will remove the cliff edges in our system that punish those who do well, cut the most punitive taxes, and ditch the reems of red tape that are holding us back. For Londoners that means unleashing the city, helping families get on the housing ladder, saving our hospitality industry and making daily life more affordable. That means bringing down the cost of government, the cost of doing business, and the cost of living. 

As Mayor, I will take a pro-business, pro-growth, and pro-worker attitude into City Hall. I will cut the costs that City Hall imposes on Londoners and our vital businesses and enable the private sector to drive our prosperity. I will double down on London’s success, not hold it back through excessive tax and red tape. 

And I will make London affordable again, by undoing the damage that Sadiq Khan has imposed on our housebuilding sector and ensuring that Whitehall recognises the value that London brings. I will make London the economic powerhouse of our nation, and the best city in the world to work and do business.

Ultimately, I won’t accept Labour’s premise that London must be squeezed to deliver for the rest of the country. 

I will make London a safe city, an affordable city, a prosperous city, and a city we can all be proud of once again.

James Cleverly is prospective Conservative candidate for Mayor of London