First things first. London is a fantastic city. It is a city of opportunity and a city that inspires. Gurinder Chadha’s Bend it Like Beckham, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth and Matt D’Ancona’s Going East are but a few of London’s recent cultural products. London’s economy drives UK wealth creation. London’s GDP of £180 billion is larger than that of many EU countries. The London School of Economics estimates that London makes a net contribution of up to £20 billion to the rest of the UK economy.
And London leads in diversity. One third of Londoners are from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic communities. Londoners speak over 300 languages. The capital has over 30 million visitors annually and overseas visitors alone spend £9 billion a year here.
So if all is well, why should we be concerned? Because, juxtaposed against London’s successes, are clear signs of its challenges and failures – which the Tories ignored and which Labour must address.
The recent GLA report The Case for London suggests that the city has more unemployment than Scotland and Northern Ireland together. Recent data suggests that London needs £47 billion of investment to provide 420,000 affordable homes in the next twenty years. Last year’s London Report by the government’s Strategy Unit said: ‘Absolute attainment
in inner London schools is the lowest in England. Access to primary care in London is poor. Accident and emergency services are overstretched. Crime against the person in London has been higher than in the rest of the country.’ We need responses to these challenges if London’s economy is to continue to prosper.
Three years ago London government was re-launched, in the form of the Greater London Authority. Despite having limited powers and resources, its very existence is a recognition that neither London boroughs nor national government can deal effectively with the strategic issues facing London. It’s also a sign that the people of London have some responsibility in improving
the situation.
What is surprising, then, is how limited the imprint of the GLA has been on London’s consciousness. Many have heard of the Mayor, but few are aware of the London assembly. Labour assembly members particularly have applied real pressure on the Mayor, and have successfully reduced the precept – the amount of council tax that pays for the Mayor and assembly. They have been supportive where they have agreed with the Mayor’s policies and critical where they have not.
Lifting the level and visibility of debate on London issues is key to building awareness and engagement with the people of London that begins to make a lasting difference. It is only the Labour party who will pay more than lip service to meeting London’s needs.
Electorally, there may not be too much to despair about – yet. Labour’s performance at the 2002 local elections was more than reasonable for a government into its second term. Currently, nine Labour assembly members, working with the four Lib Dem list members, hold the balance of the assembly against the nine Conservative AMs and the three Green party AMs who vote with them. But things can change. London has a history of turning its back on those in control at national level – on every occasion, the GLC election was won by the main opposition party in national politics. Turnout in 2000 was about 30 percent – not a clear sign that the GLA matters to the people of London.
The Mayor and assembly elections take place next May. It’s a great opportunity to be excited about London and London politics and to inform citizens about the impact of Labour-inspired national, regional and local policies. We need to maintain London’s success and its creativity. Part of that will come from a thriving political scene and a strong political message that sets the terms of the debate. That’s something we can all play a part in making happen.