The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has today said the Government’s Budget and Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) ‘takes London for granted’ and fails to deliver the support

and investment London and the rest of the country desperately needs to recover from the pandemic.

He is particularly concerned that while the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak MP today confirmed £7bn to level-up urban transport in cities around England, there was no new funding announced for Transport for London (TfL). Sadiq has warned that with the current TfL funding settlement from Government expiring on December 11, the capital is approaching its busiest period with complete uncertainty.

London is the engine of the UK’s economy, contributing a net £38.8 billion to the Treasury in the last full financial year prior to the pandemic. However, London is also the most unequal region in the UK, with stark inequalities in health and life expectancy, and some of the highest poverty rates in the country.

The Mayor has today warned Government that levelling down London is not the way to level up other parts of the country as the capital is fundamental to driving a green national recovery and supporting jobs across the UK.    

This is particularly true with transport. For every £1 invested on the London Underground, 55p is paid to workforces located outside London, with TfL contracts contributing around £6.4bn to the economy overall.

With less than 50 days to go until the current TfL funding settlement expires, the Mayor is calling for talks with Government to ensure the capital’s transport network receives the necessary funding to move forward with major projects and provide enough flexibility to accommodate whatever impact the pandemic may have on demand long-term.

The Government has demanded that TfL look at options to raise a further £500m to £1bn of revenue per year by 2023. The Mayor is disappointed that the Government did not take this opportunity to devolve the money Londoners pay in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) to the capital, which could have provided a life-line for our transport system. London’s transport system needs urgent investment, which cannot be paid for by Londoners alone, otherwise we could see significant cuts to services, vital asset replacement and maintenance.

In particular, London needs urgent funding from Government to:

• Replace fifty-year-old (1972) Bakerloo line trains and upgrade signalling on the Piccadilly line  

• Renew key parts of the road network such as the Rotherhithe Tunnel and A40 Westway in order to keep them open

• Move forward with making London’s bus fleet zero emission as quickly as possible, as well as ensure existing contracts for new rolling stock including the Piccadilly Line and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) can continue as planned.

• Support the Tube maintenance programme. Insufficient funding would result in this being cut, resulting in less reliable trains and cuts to peak time frequencies across the network 

The Mayor has also said the Budget and CSR fails to provide the money to keep Londoners safe, deliver more affordable housing, tackle poor air quality and the meet the ambition needed to achieve Net Zero and address the climate crisis. 

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “This is a disappointing Budget and Comprehensive Spending Review that takes the capital for granted and fails to deliver the support and investment London, and the rest of the country, desperately needs to recover from the pandemic.  Without a London recovery, there will be no national economic recovery.

“The Government’s plans to reduce inequality across the UK are welcome - but that must include London.

“London drives economic prosperity across the country and if the capital is to support the national recovery, the Government must provide the investment it requires. 

"It is particularly disappointing the Chancellor has chosen to not allocate any future funding to Transport for London. London’s transport network supports jobs, and manufacturing across the country and is key to ensuring a green recovery. For every £1 invested on the London Underground, 55p is paid to workforces located outside London, with TfL contracts contributing around £6.4bn to the economy overall. 

“The Government itself has said that London should not be left behind when it comes to levelling-up the country – yet today's announcements fail to back that up.

“I remain ready to work with Government to get a fair deal for Londoners that will support the national recovery from this pandemic.”

The Mayor also believes that the Chancellor’s decision to cut the Universal Credit taper rate is a step in the right direction, but if the Government was serious about helping those most in need – it would reverse its recent £20 Universal Credit cut which is leaving thousands of families struggling to heat their homes and put food on the table this winter.

The Mayor welcomes the new tax on developers’ profits that will pay for the removal of flammable cladding from high-rise buildings. However, the tax falls well short of the total amount needed and will not help enough leaseholders, many of whom are currently facing eyewatering remediation bills. Last year the Mayor proposed an alternative levy which would raise at least £3bn.

He has also welcomed additional money for initiatives that will help tackle violence against women, including improved street lighting and better CCTV and extra funds to help the Crown Prosecution Service improve its response to cases of sexual violence.

Sadiq has said the Budget today fails to support Londoners. In particular:

• The Government still refuses to ensure the Met is at the necessary strength of 6,000 additional police officers or address the £159m annual shortfall in funding from the National, International and Capital City (NICC) grant, which provides additional costs that come with policing the capital, including diplomatic protection, as well as  policing major events such as protests, concerts, football matches and state visits. 

• A lack of support for the Mayor’s ambition for London to have a green-led recovery which make the capital a healthier place to live and work and create new jobs and innovative businesses to support the UK economy. There was no mention of additional powers and investment to help London deliver a ‘retrofit revolution’ of homes and public buildings and no additional money to transition London’s 9,000 buses to zero emission by 2030.

• There was no new funding to bring forward vital infrastructure investment to unlock housing delivery across London, including at Old Oak and Thamesmead. There was also no additional funding to house and support rough sleepers and protect those leaseholders who have been caught up in the building safety crisis through no fault of their own. Photo by michaelday_bath, Wikimedia commons.