More control for London by Deputy Mayor Joanne McCartney

18th September 2016

E: joanne.mccartney@london.gov.uk www.joannemccartney.com Tel: 020 7983 5524

Local Palmers Green resident Joanne is the London Assembly Member for Enfield & Haringey and has been recently appointed Deputy Mayor of London.

A View from City Hall by Joanne McCartney AM

Having campaigned to remain in the European

Union, I was deeply disappointed by the result

to leave the EU. London (including Enfield &

Haringey) voted to remain. Although it’s still

early days it has already led to predictable

economic uncertainty and anxiety, particularly

as the EU is London’s most important trading

relationship. Now our job at City Hall is to get

the best deal for London so that we remain the

best place in the world to do business and to

remain an open and welcoming city.

Our city is home to around one million EU

nationals, who are our family members, friends

and co-workers and who make a huge

contribution to our economic prosperity,

cultural and civic life. It is vital that they are

given early certainty by the government that

they will have the right to remain here after

Brexit – many of our businesses and public

services need this certainty too. I am pleased

that our new Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan,

has spoken out strongly on this issue and also

against the rise in hate crime that we have

seen following the Brexit vote, confirming our

policy of zero tolerance to such crimes.

You may have seen our #LondonIsOpen

campaign which sends a positive message to

the world that London is united and open for

business. This campaign has been supported

by business, artists, universities, the life

sciences sector and others. It will continue to

promote London to the EU and the world at

large.

The Brexit vote has also sharpened our focus

on the need to devolve further powers from

central government to London government at

the GLA* and London councils. London’s

population is the same size of Wales and

Scotland combined, but we have far less

control over how the capital is run or how the

money raised here through our taxes are

spent. We are making the case for London to

have a stronger voice and the powers we need

to attract investment, protect jobs and improve

skills training, housing, health and criminal

justice. Expect to hear more on this agenda

over the next few months.

The Mayor has re-convened the London

Finance Commission (a group of political and

business leaders), whose previous proposals

on fiscal devolution were supported on a crossparty

basis, to bring forward a new set of

proposals to put to government. What is clear

is that a strong prosperous London is good for

the whole country, especially as one pound in

every five earned in London is used to fund the

rest of the country.

Going forward we will need to work just as

closely with our fellow European neighbours

on many of the big issues facing the world

today, as they cannot be solved by one nation

alone, whether it be guarding against the

threat of international terrorism, action to

tackle air quality and environmental

protections or the refugee crisis.

* The Greater London Authority comprises the

Mayor of London and the London Assembly.