London has the wealth and London has all the power. That is the view which most of the rest of the UK has about our capital city and it is one I seek to challenge.
Yes, London creates more of the wealth than any other region or nation in this country. But we are also the city with some of the worst poverty and deprivation in our country and we don’t have the power to tackle that.
That is what I want to change. If London is the seat of power, it needs to devolve more power to its own citizens.
As we move, in a very British way, towards federalism, I want London to play its part with the nations of the UK in recasting the union.
It is no longer a country that comprises England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. I believe we need to recognise our UK is made up of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the city state of London.
And the city state of London needs to have the powers to look after itself. I am not suggesting we abandon the principle that wealth created in London is redistributed throughout the UK. I believe in it.
But I believe London deserves the right to share in more of the wealth we create to solve the problems which we, in our southern powerhouse, must address. It has taken more than 40 years to start building work on Crossrail. Given the demands on our public transport system, we cannot afford to waste another 40 years before decisions on Crossrail 2 are taken.
That is why I agree that London should have more control over our property taxes.
It is why I believe we should look at London having greater control over income tax. We need the powers over our wealth to deal with the tragedy of our poverty. That includes more power over our NHS, our schools, and skills and employment training.
London is the most expensive place to live in the UK and the worst place to move around in. The quality of life of Londoners suffers because of that. The lived experiences of working Londoners I believe is worse than that of any other city dwellers in the country.
As mayor, I want the powers to change that. I will raise the money to invest in our transport system and make it cheaper to use – and I want the passengers who travel on it to have a say in running it.
I want to do the same with housing, encouraging people to play a part in providing the affordable homes we need. But we won’t be able to do this unless London has more financial powers over the wealth we create.
I do not doubt, or challenge the need of Scotland to have the Barnett formula. I just think it is only fair that Barnet – and all of London – has its own funding formula too.
We have an asymmetric union and asymmetric devolution settlements but I believe that for too long London has been ignored in those equations.
And I want more power to City Hall in order to devolve it further down to the boroughs, the communities, the neighbourhoods where powers should best rest so that they are best used.
London is the best place in the world to do business – I don’t want to change that, I want to support it and make it better.
But I believe there is a gap where the wealth London creates is redistributed in a way that London misses out on. We need a greater share of that wealth to address Londoners’ real priorities. To put it in a way other parts of the country will understand: London didn’t vote for the Tory cuts which are about to be imposed on our hospitals, schools and police forces.
Like other parts of the country, London should have the powers to make our own decisions so we can have the policies we vote for.
From John O’Groats to Land’s End we all recognise that the United Kingdom must change and reform if we are to retain the union which has worked so well for our country and indeed the world.
London cannot be ignored on that journey. London is a great city and the envy of many worldwide but we face huge challenges as our city grows even bigger. London has the talent, the imagination and the wealth to confront head-on the issues that hold our city back. But Londoners need now to be given the power to control London’s future.
Gareth Thomas is MP for Harrow West and has entered the contest to become Labour candidate in next year’s London mayoral election
