If our aim is to reverse ‘a century of centralisation’, as argued by Ed Miliband in his conference speech, by devolving power to local government then London must be included. Too few powers are devolved to the right level, meaning that there is a yawning gap between the very substantial powers of Whitehall agencies, the strategic functions of the mayor and the 32 local authorities charged with many public services.

This will get wider as the post-independence vote settlement means real control over Whitehall spending for Scotland by the Scottish parliament and Manchester’s model for city-regions – specifically endorsed by Ed Miliband – is seen as the solution for the north of England.

Manchester’s leader Richard Leese highlighted London’s problem in his recent statement on ‘Devo-Manc’ – he wants real devolution, not London’s mayoral settlement, which does not give councils a large enough role in either reforming public services or promoting jobs and growth:

London under its current structures can’t do what Greater Manchester can do which is not only to support job-creating growth but also reorganise public services around people, their families and the places they live rather than in traditional service silos. London’s problem is that it has a two-tier structure. The mayor is responsible for economic development, transport, police and not a lot else if you exclude self-promotion. The thirty two London boroughs and the City of London Corporation are responsible for all the other things a council like Manchester does.

London needs the space to fix its own problems and develop a new model of governance which allows councils to work much better together.

Today’s Centre for London Manifesto for London demands that London be given more power over its taxes – particularly property taxes – to ensure that it can meet its housing needs. Ben Rogers told the Financial Times that the capital was in danger of becoming invisible in the debate over devolution: ‘London is hardly ever talked about. It is all about Scotland, Wales and to some extent the cities of the north’.

There is a groundswell of opinion which agrees.

Two weeks ago in a rare intervention, a report by the finance officers of all London boroughs – Capitalising the Boroughs– called for further devolution to new sub-regional groups of councils. This followed the work of the cross-party London Finance Commission in May 2013, which called for a fiscally neutral settlement where London gained tax raising powers and more control over its finances from SW1. Shadow London minister Sadiq Khan has promised that Labour will devolve power and funding to ‘every layer of London’s government.’

So the scene is set for a proper debate – and one which should not only be embraced by all potential mayoral candidates for 2016 but across the Labour party as part of a constitutional debate about decentralisation from ‘Big Whitehall.’

Labour policymakers in Westminster will be making a big mistake if they dismiss the legitimate demands for decentralisation as ‘special pleading’ by London-based politicians on behalf of London – the suspicion is that some of do. Antipathy towards SW1 dictating the policy agenda should not be confused with the real challenges faced by London boroughs, all of which are the same size – each – as places like Hull or Oldham. Together they not only face some of the biggest cuts to local government funding through the next round of austerity but huge residual problems around inclusion and inequality over the next decade, the London riots of 2011 being one expression of this.

The issue at hand is not about more resources for the capital, it is about more control over what is already spent by Whitehall and more powers over taxation to ensure that London boroughs can together provide sufficient jobs, school places, housing and transport for a city which will grow by at least the size of Birmingham by 2030.

Let’s start by decentralising spending on housing, adult skills and regeneration and growth initiatives to their most appropriate level – be they councils collaborating subregionally or town halls directly or neighbourhoods themselves – and let Londoners take the lead by deciding how best to do that.

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Theo Blackwell is cabinet member for finance and technology policy at the London borough of Camden. He tweets @CamdenTheo

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Photo: James Stringer