Khan urged to make better use of City Hall powers to help tackle skills gap and unemployment

London’s productivity growth has stalled since the 2008 financial crisis, reports Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter

Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for London (credit London Councils)

Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has been accused of failing to use his “convening powers” to more effectively join up talent with opportunities and help address the skills gap in the capital.

Across the UK, metro mayors have enhanced powers to bring together and co-ordinate local businesses, boroughs and stakeholders to help realise their ambitions.

Examples include Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotherham, who built agreement between local authorities to deliver LCR Connect and provide ultra-fast broadband to his constituents, and former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who co-ordinated public services to help drive down homelessness, despite such responsibility laying with local councils in the region.

But Khan – who has consistently demanded more devolutionary powers from the government – has been told to more effectively use the convening powers he already has.

Lord Ranger, who worked under former mayor Boris Johnson in City Hall from 2008 to 2012, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “London is always recognised as the growth engine of the UK. So there’s a fundamental part of the UK growth that London plays a part with. It competes internationally. It draws international business in, it draws investment in.

“Yes, we have successes all around the country. But London needs to be succeeding for the health of the UK. So that is why we need to think about productivity and what’s not happening in London.

“We’re seeing opportunities cheek by jowl in the city, but not being linked up with people who could leverage those opportunities in terms of jobs.

“Fundamentally, it was very interesting that despite there being numerous mentions of a lack of potential governance, co-ordination, of convening, the mayor [Khan], and the mayoral team, was not mentioned.

“It feels like that is the championing role that people are looking for, that convening power, that previous mayors have done, like Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson.

“Yes, they needed more powers, and both of them asked and got more powers from government in terms of devolution. But it’s not just about the powers you have or you want. It’s how you use them.

“Fundamentally, people are feeling that there hasn’t been the usage of the powers that the mayor has, it is one of those fundamental reasons we are not competing where we want to be competing both nationally and internationally.

“London’s been sinking down a number of league tables on productivity, inward investment, people leaving the city, even our connectivity, sort of, appears the worst in Europe, on mobile phone productivity. Who would have believed that of London?”

His comments came after the All Party Parliamentary Group for London’s opening inquiry session on how to ignite productivity in the capital. The APPG say that despite sustained employment and economic growth that has outperformed the rest of the country, London’s productivity growth has stalled since the 2008 financial crisis.

Matthew Fell, director of competitiveness at BusinessLDN, told the event that while pushing for more devolutionary powers was still important, “more can be done with existing powers”.

He added: “Investors say that other parts of England, mayors use their convening powers to play an active role to align things to set the groundwork for investment.

“London’s superpower lies in the agglomeration of different sectors – but there is a skills paradox, where London ranks high for human capital but there are still skills gaps and mass youth unemployment, with an underinvestment in training.”

Majeed Neky from the West London Alliance, said Khan was at the disadvantage compared to mayors overseeing combined authorities, compared to the Greater London Authority’s unique arrangement.

“London is often lumped together with other strategic mayoral authorities – but we do not have powers that combined authorities have in terms of connecting with local authorities [borough councils],” he said.

“As we look at what more we can do with devolution, we need to change that perception.”

In a coded message to the next prime minister – be it Burnham or otherwise – Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson, who co-chairs the APPG, said there was “more importance than ever in focusing on investing in London, and being loud and proud about the city.”

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