Even after recent promises made by government, Benali Hamdache highlights “huge gulf” in devolution between what Whitehall is giving and what City Hall needs, reports Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter
London needs devolved powers on par with Scotland and Wales to solve the capital’s housing crisis, a London Assembly member has claimed.
Green Party assembly member Benali Hamdache said City Hall’s fiscal powers were still “far behind” comparable European counterparts like Madrid and Berlin.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has granted mayors across the country further powers since coming into office, such as the ability to levy an overnight tourist tax on visitors and, and has announced plans to allow authorities to retain a portion of income tax raised in their areas.
However, Hamdache said there was still a “huge gulf” in devolution between what Whitehall has given and what City Hall needs, especially when compared to major cities like New York.
Closing the gap would allow Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan to raise more money and invest further in housebuilding schemes, he added.
He also claimed that while it was positive to see other strategic authorities catching up to the devolved powers that the Greater London Authority (GLA) possess, the capital has a “unique” set of challenges – and so needs special treatment.
“London has the least amount of devolved taxation powers compared to major European cities, while the challenges that London faces are very specific to this city,” Hamdache told a Centre for London fringe event at the Green Party’s annual conference in Brighton on Friday (2nd).
“We are one of the few cities that is closing down primary schools because of the state of house prices. There might be policy levers that we might want to see specifically implemented in London that might not work for other metro regions.
“I would like to start to see devolved powers to London on the level of Wales or Scotland.”
In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after the event, Hamdache clarified that his thinking was inspired by the powers granted to New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, who can levy his own municipal income tax and impose property surcharges to raise income.
“When you compare the amount of powers that Mamdani has compared to Sadiq Khan, it’s a huge, huge gulf,” he said.
“Other London European cities [also] have much more tax rating powers. They’re able to set up a tourist tax themselves rather than wait for Andy Burnham to do so after many years of waiting.”
He said a first step would be to look to the structure of the Greater London Council (GLC), which was disbanded in 1986.
“The mayor still has a lot less powers over London than the GLC did. The GLC had influence on education, had influences on health, and we are slowly, slowly returning back to where that was – but we are still far behind.
“London just has so many unique challenges compared to the rest of the country. And so I would love for London to have the freedom to set policy that works for London.
“When it comes to housing, the opportunity to raise more income, to spend that on housing would be hugely, hugely powerful.
“The opportunity to have more devolved powers to deliver housing on a London level on a strategic [London-wide] level would be hugely, hugely important.”
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