Risks to London's economy

Thanks for sharing your views everyone. Many of you have mentioned Brexit and the rising cost of living.

What do you think the Mayor can do to ensure London is ready for these challenges?

Talk London

Stop trying to get more people into London would be a really good start.

8.6 Million people in 607 square miles is causing the city to choke due to all the bottlenecks created during Medieval and Victorian times. Ottawa by comparison has 1.3 Million people living in 2,206 square miles that is not constricted by historical choices.

Cramming more people in pushes the cost of living up.

The other risks to London's economy is the stupid decision of the Mayor to stop the re-development of Colindale, esp Grahame Park. Lots this not only provides lots of employment as well as the re-development of lots of housing that is some of the worst I have ever seen in the world, even Ukraine had much better housing, it is a total dive and needs demolition ASAP. The poor residents there some even Refugees deserve good housing and stability straight away. The risks of it being delayed are that the new businesses in Colindale could suffer as with regeneration higher spends and more people in a better ergonomic environment are attracted. Also foreign capital from China esp in Colindale is coming in really lifting the area and diversity. Holding off plans like this risks London's economy.

A very specific threat. There is a vast development project to be done with University College London and London College of Fashion in East London. These are both unpopular colleges that make lots of money for that reason: they get less choosy students from outside the EU who pay double fees. So if overseas students noticed how bad these colleges are and stopped coming, or set-up a campaign to pay more reasonable fees, or the new Office for Students noticed how over-charged they are and helped them, the project might not be viable.

Brexit has to be mentioned. Although people are getting a little overloaded with the topic, this is, without doubt, one of the largest economic transition periods for the UK and certainly, it's capital city for decades.

From tax plans and volatility of the GBP, through to ongoing negotiations and more - London is likely to see the largest impact and the most volatility outside of niche industry dominated towns and services.

You only need to keep on top of economic update sites (example WorldFirst) to see this daily impact, let alone the longer term connotations of Brexit to London and the UK.

As the command of money by the more wealthier parts of our society grows (which it is doing), more land is being held unused. This makes the cost of both produce and accommodation become greater. The obvious danger is that poorer families are being forced to live further away from a source of employment and so the gap between rich and poor tends to widen. This is not a risk it is a fact and the answer is to creat the forces to stop this command of money from being used on land purchases.

Brexit poses a huge risk to London's economy in my view. It was only a matter of time before a new pro-EU party was formed and it seems one just has. It seems the pro-EU Renew Party has just formed - see:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/new-party-aiming-to-stop-brexi…

Good luck to them - if Corbyn cannot be persuaded to go the full monty and vote Remain, then I and many of my Labour voting friends will back Renew, despite recently voting Labour to oust a pro-Tory Brexit MP . I am 71 and very much in favour of the UK remaining within the EU for a variety of reasons.

Here's one thing that is a significant risk https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/26/ghost-towers-half-of-n…

Maybe build housing Londeners need rather than what Property Vultures want to build.

One risk is that companies and their employees underestimate the importance of foreign language skills in post-Brexit Britain. Of course English will remain the most widely spoken language in Europe, but in order to do business in European markets speaking the language of the country will be a crucial factor in the coming years.

As the owner of a German language school (https://www.olesentuition.co.uk) I'm biased, of course, but from conversations with many successful companies in the UK and Europe it's become quite apparent that language skills simplify, sometimes even enable, business negotiations between companies. So London's companies will have to adapt to this trend and invest more time and energy in language courses.

Of course Brexit will be damaging to the London Economy, but even if we had another referendum the same people who voted to leave will vote leave again that is the mentality of people, despite,the current unsettling problems London is enduring and the grey future prospects that seem to lay ahead for voting to leave the EU. Well, how are we suppose to believe that things will be better and brighter after Brexit with the UK having no true friends in the world thereafter and when London is not in a good place now?

Yet, those responsible for London are also to blame for being on a dark uncompassionate path that will also subsequently destroy the London Economy. To name just a few... Increasing Travel Fares regularly every year ...., Low Wages for the many..., No Rental Cap ( their rental fees are cruel and only benefits the Landlords) ..The increase of Crime on our Streets is starting to have an affect on Tourism particularly those with very young children as crime is making them far too afraid to visit our City and yet the government is far more concern with saving money instead of making London safer and of course by providing the right skilled Teaches in schools to focus on making children from a very young age decent human beings , knife crime is out of control!!...Lack of good and safety pedestrian crossings and pedestrian paths are keeping many shoppers away from the High Road shops....Government ministers and the London Mayor are travelling abroad far too much instead of using technology.

People love to boast that the UK is one of the most riches countries in the world but it means nothing if the country does not show its wealth by enriching our city for it prosperity which includes it citizens enrichment. There is far too much a focus on financially squeezing the ordinary average citizen which is the majority of their citizens and not enough spending in London which spells for a bleak London Forecast.

Failing to sort out air quality will be a risk in my opinion, as people simply wont want to work in London or send their kids to schools in London.

For me there is so many problems so many did not pay any tax, but so high benefits my head spinning around ... Next so many did not have any education, but have quite high post that next problem ... Stand stills on roads, when Mayor of London did not worked usually in Sundays, sad ... There is more and more ...