Sadiq Khan is re-uniting a group of political and business leaders to develop a new series of devolution plans for the capital.
The London mayor has asked public sector expert Tony Travers, from the London School of Economics to reconvene the London Finance Commission, which developed a series of devolution proposals back in 2013.
Among the commission’s original proposals were the devolvement of council tax, stamp duty and business rates, but the mayor said the fallout from last month’s EU referendum has changed London’s economic landscape, and therefore new proposals are needed.
‘It is vital that we have greater control over how the capital is run – so we have more control over the things we need to improve our city, such as skills training, housing, businesses rates and the tools to tackle air quality, health and crime,’ said Mr Khan.
‘A stronger voice for London will be good for the whole country, because when London succeeds, Britain succeeds.’
Professor Travers added: ‘The mayor and the boroughs know better than Whitehall how to run responsive and effective public services.
‘Devolution would be good for London and would take pressure off the UK government at a time when it needs all its capacity to make Brexit work as well as possible.’
Image: Martin Hoscik / Shutterstock.com.