Rewarding Success

London is a true global city and a key driver of growth in the UK. Despite recent setbacks across the world, it continues to be a top world destination for business investments and attracts skilled migrants from all over the UK and the world. However London's successes are not without cost. Levels of unemployment, deprivation and child poverty are high, and public services are strained.

Crucially for London local government, there is a mismatch between how the benefits and costs of London's success accrue at a local level. The UK's centrally-biased taxation system does not allow local government to access the revenues that it creates locally.

This report will show, small changes to local government finance could create big benefits both for Londoners and the UK as a whole. If London's local authorities were able to retain a small proportion of the revenue they provide to fund national public spending, they would be far better equipped to meet the costs that their success affords them.