A vision of London as a leading world city

"We want to let Londoners make the most of their innate talent and flair so that they make London’s economy even more productive and successful and we want all Londoners to have the opportunity to find fulfilling jobs. That also means ensuring the conditions are right for the businesses that employ them to flourish.

With its growing population and astonishing base of skills and resources, London will not only lengthen its lead as the greatest city on earth.

It will come to be seen as the best big city on earth, the best big city to live in."
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

A vision of leadership

The Mayor believes London is the greatest of all the world's great cities. His strategy will ensure that the world comes to share this view.

Opportunity will be expanded for all Londoners and London enterprises, to enjoy the best business climate, the highest quality of life and the very best environmental standards. London will lead the world in meeting the urban challenges of the 21st century.

To deliver this vision, the Mayor and the London Development Agency (LDA) work in partnership with both private and public bodies to develop a strong environment in which companies can flourish and a public arena where Londoners can live healthy and fulfilled lives.

The Mayor will support the success of the private sector and help catalyse appropriate contributions from public bodies to achieve a cooperative partnership which brings development to benefit all of London. And big events like the 2012 Games will be capitalised on to present a modern, vibrant face to the world and leave a great legacy for future generations.

The Mayor will build on London's strengths and address its weaknesses, developing a city which serves the needs of all its businesses, all its public bodies and all its citizens. Twenty first century London will be a great place to work, a great place to visit, a great place to do business and a great place to live.

It will, in short, be the greatest city in the world.

Economic Development Strategy

In May 2010, the Mayor published the final version of his Economic Development Strategy which sets out his plans to make London the most competitive business environment in the world. 

Read the Mayor's Economic Development Strategy.

Two-year snapshot: what we've delivered so far

Since the Mayor came into office in May 2008, we've delivered the following for London's businesses and economy:

Supporting shops and local businesses

We've published a draft replacement London Plan, which seeks to provide more support to London's small, independent shops and other business that provide local goods and services (like your local pubs and post offices). It also proposes to allow the Mayor and boroughs dealing with applications for large retail developments to use planning obligations to support the provision of small affordable shop units suitable for small or independent retailers.

Responsible Procurement

In response to feedback from London's businesses that competing for GLA contracts was too difficult, we've developed and launched a new procurement framework to make it easier for all businesses to have fair access to the GLA group's £3 billion annual spend.

More apprenticeships

Apprenticeships not only provide access to skilled employment but they also prepare businesses to recover from the recession with highly skilled and motivated staff. The Mayor has formally called on London businesses to take on more apprentices. There are now 350 apprentices expected to work on the Olympics development alone, up to 1,000 expected to work on Crossrail and a further 1,000 to work across the GLA group with 75 per cent of these in place by March 2010.

A higher London Living Wage

The London Living Wage is currently almost £2 an hour more than the legal UK minimum wage, to reflect London's higher cost of living. The Mayor increased the wage to £7.60 an hour in 2009 and it has now benefited more than 2,000 staff working on GLA group contracts.