Government

The Case for Giving London More Local Control

The city represents almost 30 percent of the U.K.’s tax base, but its own fiscal powers are puny.
The London Assembly's powers are more limited than its impressive building might imply.Dimitri B/Flickr

What will happen to London after Brexit? In the wake of last month’s U.K. vote to leave the European Union, the future direction of London’s capital has been hotly debated. The situation is so tense and surreal that in the aftermath of the referendum result, over 178,000 people have signed a petition demanding that London become an independent city-state.

Londoners had after all voted clearly in favor of remaining in the E.U., and are now marooned in a country to which its international outlook and connections are apparently anathema. Still, the suggestion of an independent London is, as commentators lined up to say, mostly ludicrous, an un-democratic fantasy that involves redrawing borders so as solely to include People Like Us.