London Dominates Britain

Mark Siara - Mon 12 May, 2008

London dominates Britain to such an extent that, for many foreigners, the two are synonymous

A short quiz to start this week’s article. When looking at their respective capital cities, which of these countries is the odd one out? Australia, Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom? I’m sure there are many and varied answers to this question, but the answer I’m looking for is the United Kingdom. For those of you that chose correctly well done, go to the top of the class and I’ll expect an apple on my desk in the morning.

And for the swotty types out there, the corollary is this: why is London an odd capital city? Again many and varied answers can be given and, depending on your location and disposition, you’ll either be positive about the place or not. In order to give you the answer, I’ll illustrate by way of a list:

Australia : Canberra and Sydney
Canada : Montreal and Toronto
United States : Washington DC and New York
United Kingdom : London and

The answer being that London is the only capital city in the list that doesn’t have a strong second city to contend with. Apologies to Birmingham ( England’s second city – by population at least), Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast, fine capitals all, but it’s true. There’s no city in the UK that can keep London in line so to speak.

Before we go any further let me make it quite clear that I have no problem with London as a place or Londoners as a people. This isn’t a North vs. South type debate. Furthermore, as what some of the less polite down South may call “a <expletive deleted> Northerner”, but also as one who once lived in and around the London suburbs, I would hope that my view is more balanced than most. London is a remarkable place and, as the father of the dictionary Dr Johnson once stated “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford” (especially if you’re a multi-billionaire Russian he would have to add today)

So, having laid out my non-biased credentials on this matter at least, what is the reason I believe London needs a strong counterparty? Mainly it’s because of the unhealthy concentration of power and influence in one place. In the UK the capital contains the centre of politics, finance, the media and entertainment. Nowhere else in the UK can rival London in any of these regards. Compare that to, say, the United States where politics is centred in Washington DC, finance in New York and of course entertainment in Hollywood in Los Angeles. It’s all much more dispersed.

London dominates Britain to such an extent that, for many foreigners, the two are synonymous. On my last visit to the US, I lost count of the number of Americans who asked me where about in England I lived. My answer of ‘ Manchester’ was greeted with one of two responses. Either: “Is that near London?” or “Oh, you must know my Uncle Billy, he lives there” as if they think London is the only city of any size or consequence in the UK. I politely pointed out that Manchester is a city of a similar size to Seattle, so I was unlikely to run into any of their relatives as they suggested “in one of your quaint pubs”.

Partly it’s the media’s fault, with their continuing focus on London. It’s all a bit parochial. Take the recent local elections and the drubbing the Labour party received (there’s no truth in the rumour however that Gordon Brown is going to have a recount done by Robert Mugabe).

Looking at some of the recent reports you may be forgiven for not knowing that there were elections all over the country – it was all about the Ken and Boris show. One big advantage that the regions have, though, is that none of their big cities are controlled by a mayor. Looking at the candidates that were available to the poor Londoners in the recent election and at the credentials of the winner, I think that’s probably a good thing. It’s an interesting experiment however.

There is also a perception in the Provinces that Londoners want to have their cake and eat it. From Hammersmith to Hampstead to Hackney complaints about congestion charges, the level of immigration or house prices emanate. These grievances particularly grate in the regions because they all basically about stem from the fact that there is near-as full employment in the capital. A decade of rising employment and prosperity has attracted people from all over the country and from abroad. And with all the cheap money sloshing about within the M25 (aka Britain’s largest car park), it’s no wonder that assets have become so expensive. You can’t have it both ways – if you concentrate all the jobs in one small corner of the country, goods and services in that locale will become more expensive. Companies should take a leaf out of the BBC’s book, as they are currently in the process of relocating several of their television and radio departments into Salford (next to Manchester)

The other complaint recently made was that Londoners effectively subsidise the rest of the country through their proportionally greater levels of taxation and also through their significant contribution to the nation’s GDP. This argument is fatuous and divisive. Is the London-based financial sector going to only offer mortgages to people who live within the capital’s boroughs? Will there be a ban on the sale of Jersey potatoes or Sheffield steel or electricity generated in Wales to Croydon or Camden or Chelsea? Shall we send just Londoners over to Iraq or Afghanistan to fight in a war agreed upon in Westminster? It’s nonsense.

Of course the London economy has a huge impact on the UK, with the financial sector contributing much of that benefit. Unfortunately, now that the UK is an “eggs-in- one-basket” type of economy, the coming downturn in the City will hit the entire country hard. We need diversity to protect the country – a downturn in one area can be mitigated by an upturn in another. Even the BoE governor Merv the Swerve has recognised that London is becoming too influential. He recently attacked the City's economic dominance and recognised that the high level of City salaries has a negative impact elsewhere in the economy.

The concentration of wealth generation in the UK into one geographical area ( London) has mostly occurred because of the concentration of wealth generation into one sector (Finance). The recent government have done nothing to reduce the impact of the inevitable financial downturn on the rest of the country. Indeed the recent Labour government have turned their backs on their roots, discouraged manufacture and industry and encouraged the ranks of the City to swell to unsustainable proportions; something that is bad for all of us. It’s a schoolboy error and will be punished as such by an unforgiving electorate. Gordon Brown is already standing in the corner wearing a pointy hat but, come the next General Election, he’s sure to be expelled.