Is it time for London Independence?

Jim Jepps explores whether it’s time to go our own way.

Last week Labour’s mayoral candidate came out in favour of independence for London.

Ken Livingstone told the Evening Standard that “he will use “amazing charm and subtlety” to get New York-style independence for the capital. Mr Livingstone, 66, added: “I would actually declare independence and run the whole city. They can’t even run hospitals in London. Everything government does in London it gets wrong. If you look at the city of New York, the mayor runs the benefits system, some of the prisons even, and the healthcare and schools.”

This is not a new position for the Labour candidate. He told Total Politics magazine in 2010 that he was in favor of “[T]otal independence for London. A Republic of London. If London was independent we would have more people than half the members of the UN do, we’d be able to use more of our wealth to provide better infrastructure and a better quality of life instead of pumping £20 bn more into the national economy than we get back.”

Indeed, it’s not just Labour, in our interview with UKIP mayoral candidate Lawrence Webb he told us that he would “consider” London independence if elected, although whether this is the formal position of either national party is another matter.

Is there a case for independence?

London is a glorious migrant city. Its mixed communities and transitory population works so well because of open borders with the rest of the UK (and Europe). London’s geographic communities are distinct parts of a vibrant metropolis, all given a unique character by the combination of their long histories and the flowing nature of their populations.

Whether those migrants are from other parts of London, from around Britain or from overseas we have a rich mix of peoples that is quite distinct in character from the rest of the UK.

London does not just have its own culture, but also it has specific needs. There’s already been suggestions that our schools should teach a London curriculum, most of our transport is organised separately, and issues like housing and the financial sector need a specific London agenda.

Certainly most of the rest of the country is very aware that it is “not London”, so why not formalise that arrangement and the capital can move back up to Coventry? If anything it might come as a blessed relief for the rest of the country if we went our own way.

Nothing should threaten the ability of those outside London to do business with or to move to this great city, but that does not mean we shouldn’t have some kind of “devo max” where health, education and taxation is brought closer to home.

Could we do it?

Of course greater independence would mean we’d have to be a little bit more self sufficient. Growing more of our own food, no more over-reliance on Scottish oil and a true government for London rather than the small, but perfectly formed, administrative London Assembly.

So perhaps we should consider genuinely making the case for devolution.

That case, for a modern, democratic city should also involve a real discussion of what kind of city we want. How fair is our economy? How responsible is our financial district? How happy are Londoners? What does a democracy look like in the twenty first century? What does a low carbon city look like?

Such an international hub needs to be able to set its own distinct political and economic agenda and could do so much to promote a fairer and better world.