Funding London’s priorities

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Discussion | Your priorities for London in 2026

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The Mayor’s budget sets out how he will fund his priorities. Before he takes any final decisions, we would love to know what you think.

Join the conversation 

  • What do you think are the most important priorities to make London better next year, and why? 

Help inform the budget and share your views in the comments below. We will share your feedback with the Mayor’s Office, Assembly Members and our Group Finance team. 

About the budget for London

Through the budget, the Mayor ensures there is a sound financial plan to deliver his priorities within the resources that are available to the GLA (Greater London Authority) Group.  

The budget goes through several stages, including scrutiny from the London Assembly, before it can be finalised. 

Read more about the budget, what it covers and how it’s set. 

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Comments (372)

Avatar for - Vaquita

maybe ... should be like MR TRUMP J a beautiful bill - for all inclusive and en frame to underwrite for them budget

 

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maybe ... should be like MR TRUMP J a beautiful bill - for all inclusive and en frame to underwrite for them budget

 

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Avatar for - Koala

Need more step free access it’s awful people should be able to get around without having to rely on people’s kindness. Also just bcs u drop a curb doesn’t mean it’s accessible most are too steep go round London for a day in a wheelchair and...

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Need more step free access it’s awful people should be able to get around without having to rely on people’s kindness. Also just bcs u drop a curb doesn’t mean it’s accessible most are too steep go round London for a day in a wheelchair and see how  get on. Also make more spaces for people to go in the evening that aren’t just drinking like late community cafes etc. Stop allowing the gay culture in soho to die out. Promote small businesses there is no reason a big chain should be able to open up next to or very close to a similar small business such as Joe and the juice opening up next to smoothie factory in the Brunswick small businesses can’t compete 

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Avatar for - Koala

100% Agree with this post. Each public transport station should be step free ( fow wheelchair users/ disabilities, but also buggies and people with heavy luggage) it is a standard in many european cities, London is far behind… London’s...

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100% Agree with this post. Each public transport station should be step free ( fow wheelchair users/ disabilities, but also buggies and people with heavy luggage) it is a standard in many european cities, London is far behind… London’s public transport is very expensive for the standard of service.

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Avatar for - Koala

Something needs to be done about thief’s it’s awful. Specially phone theft the met do not care there is nothing in place that is stopping it they feel entitled to take from people. It is making London a very unpleasant place. I got mine...

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Something needs to be done about thief’s it’s awful. Specially phone theft the met do not care there is nothing in place that is stopping it they feel entitled to take from people. It is making London a very unpleasant place. I got mine taken out of my zipped up pocket outside the soho fire station they don’t want to help so walked to police station where they said immediately oh phone theft scam the qr code… I didn’t have a phone so how would I do that. Something needs to be done as a preventative measure the punishment for theft needs to be harsher. And when people report that their phone is in a specific building police should be able to enter and go get it because I guarantee there won’t just be one there. So u know how frustrating it is to know my phone is sat in a building where I can see it but you guys won’t do anything 

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Avatar for - Tiger

Extend drink licensing times. Increasing growth in the industry which is struggling with menu closing, causing young people to have a lack of places to socialise.


London out of all global major cities closes up far too early! It should be...

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Extend drink licensing times. Increasing growth in the industry which is struggling with menu closing, causing young people to have a lack of places to socialise.


London out of all global major cities closes up far too early! It should be transformed into a true late night to 24 hour city! 

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Avatar for - Adelie penguin

The priority has to be increasing law & order and reducing crime. The only way this can be done is by increasing funding to get more police officer on the streets and increasing their stop & search powers. It has become embarrassing as a...

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The priority has to be increasing law & order and reducing crime. The only way this can be done is by increasing funding to get more police officer on the streets and increasing their stop & search powers. It has become embarrassing as a Londoner to see the reputation my city now has internationally due to the rampant crime e.g. phone snatching and knife crime. Which the Mayor has yet not done anyway near enough about. Please sort that. And the litter.

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Avatar for - Rhino

London needs Jesus, the only King and Lord.

Avatar for - Adelie penguin

No it certainly doesn't.

Avatar for - Koala

Tackle reckless cyclists! So many of them cycle on the pavement, don't use lights when dark or run over red lights. A lot of food delivery riders use illegally modified bikes. I've only seen law enforcement in the City of London but not...

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Tackle reckless cyclists! So many of them cycle on the pavement, don't use lights when dark or run over red lights. A lot of food delivery riders use illegally modified bikes. I've only seen law enforcement in the City of London but not elsewhere in London.

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Avatar for - Koala

Measures such as campaigning and enforcement need to be taken to make the public transport and streets more tidy. So many people leave trash on buses, trains and the pavement, or step on the bus/train seats like they never care.

Avatar for - Tiger

Campaign to join the EU. London very much needs it, as does the country 

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Campaign to join the EU. London very much needs it, as does the country 

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Avatar for - Adelie penguin

Nightlife in London is dying if not already dead. London is sadly no longer a 24/7 city. We need to support pubs and nightclubs by doing what is possible to remove taxes, fees, and levies on them. We need to run the night tube across more...

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Nightlife in London is dying if not already dead. London is sadly no longer a 24/7 city. We need to support pubs and nightclubs by doing what is possible to remove taxes, fees, and levies on them. We need to run the night tube across more lines and more often. We need to make sure our streets are safe late at night. But most of all, we need to make sure that Londoners can afford a night out. 

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Avatar for - Koala

Funding is very much needed for ending knife crime and phone snatching. Everywhere I goi in Europe has made me feel safer than in London. I would rarely go out at night because of this.

Also TFL should not be allowed to raised their fare...

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Funding is very much needed for ending knife crime and phone snatching. Everywhere I goi in Europe has made me feel safer than in London. I would rarely go out at night because of this.

Also TFL should not be allowed to raised their fare every single year given the quality of their service and the disruption tube drivers has caused. Its a disgrace how much these people earn. TFL is such corrupted this needs a thorough investigation and changes to implement for citizens!

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Avatar for - Pangolin

Something needs to be done to protect London's cultural history and iconic trade districts . Limitations  need to be introduced that stop areas from being bought out by endless chains, and instead incentivise and encourage independent...

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Something needs to be done to protect London's cultural history and iconic trade districts . Limitations  need to be introduced that stop areas from being bought out by endless chains, and instead incentivise and encourage independent businesses, with an oversight to an area's local personality . London is swiftly losing all the things that make it a city worth living in. Camden Market is now an unrecognisable shopping mecca carbon-copied from any other city in the world, Denmark Street has been in danger for years of losing its historical musical significance, Berwick street - once the beating heart of London's fabric trade, has been homogenised into luxury flats, with rising costs pushing the all but the last remaining traders out. And with Deptford market next on the hit list, I'd like to see more oversight into protecting London's cultural heritage and character, whilst simultaneously supporting the city's independent businesses and cultural venues. That's what always made the city great. 

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Avatar for - Adelie penguin

Invest in young people, in prevention and early intervention, and in making our city more accessible (from a disability standpoint and an affordability point of view). Would love to see rent controls, more social housing, investment in art...

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Invest in young people, in prevention and early intervention, and in making our city more accessible (from a disability standpoint and an affordability point of view). Would love to see rent controls, more social housing, investment in art, youth and community centres that celebrate local communities and create spaces to develop a pro social city, where young people can afford to work and stay, to build lives. 

 

Where those community built services already exist, fund them! 

 

More MET police on the streets will NOT make our city safer, as so much evidence points to the racial and gender discrimination running deep in the MET. 

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Avatar for - Tiger

Improving safety on the roads - lime bike users should definitely require a licence to register with the app and enable police to crackdown on traffic violations. As a lime bike user myself I still think this! It’s by far the most...

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Improving safety on the roads - lime bike users should definitely require a licence to register with the app and enable police to crackdown on traffic violations. As a lime bike user myself I still think this! It’s by far the most convenient mode of transport but not safe while so many people use it haphazardly … a small amount of intervention could go a long way 

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Avatar for - Tiger

Addressing crime is a really difficult one when the met have been literally shown to be systemically racist and misogynistic. I want to feel safer as a top priority but investing in police feels like it will achieve the opposite for women...

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Addressing crime is a really difficult one when the met have been literally shown to be systemically racist and misogynistic. I want to feel safer as a top priority but investing in police feels like it will achieve the opposite for women and minorities, unless systemic issues are reformed

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Avatar for - Sea turtle

It's been sad to watch the closure of cultural venues, and the slow increase in ticket pricing. Our writers, artists and performers are a crucial part of our city and they are all having to move to different parts of the country because...

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It's been sad to watch the closure of cultural venues, and the slow increase in ticket pricing. Our writers, artists and performers are a crucial part of our city and they are all having to move to different parts of the country because they can no longer earn a living in London. A city without culure is a city without a heartbeat.

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Avatar for - Orangutan

Pedestrianise Oxford Street! Walkable mixed areas in big cities around the world are always the most attractive places, and typically become cultural centres. We could have popup markets, events, exhibits, all sorts of things on the street...

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Pedestrianise Oxford Street! Walkable mixed areas in big cities around the world are always the most attractive places, and typically become cultural centres. We could have popup markets, events, exhibits, all sorts of things on the street. 

An upheaval of council tax applied to residential areas would help in discouraging the purchase of "affordable housing" by speculative investors and instead encourage working and salary-earning people to buy instead. You could do this by increasing the tax rate based on the number of square feet in a property, IE if you own one 800sqft flat you pay £X per sqft in tax per year, but if you own say 3200sqft from 4 flats you would pay £3X per square foot. 

Furthermore, delays in public transport cost London enormous sums in productivity hours, so maintaining punctuality is key to maximising productivity from what we already have. It will also take cars and taxis off the road.

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Avatar for -

Social housing, decommodify public transport, decrease wealth inequality, give everybody a chance to do well in life, invest in communities, tackle crime in the short term but make sure you do the above because crime doesn't happen in a...

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Social housing, decommodify public transport, decrease wealth inequality, give everybody a chance to do well in life, invest in communities, tackle crime in the short term but make sure you do the above because crime doesn't happen in a vacuum, it's an effect of inequality rising.

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Avatar for - Adelie penguin

Honestly, everyone talks about “affordable housing” like it’s this great solution, but speaking as someone who actually lives in it, it’s really not affordable at all. The system feels designed to make housing associations rich while people...

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Honestly, everyone talks about “affordable housing” like it’s this great solution, but speaking as someone who actually lives in it, it’s really not affordable at all. The system feels designed to make housing associations rich while people in Help to Buy or shared ownership are squeezed for every penny. The rents are high, the service charges are high, and whenever you ask them to explain why, they either can’t or won’t. It just makes the whole thing feel pretty shady.

And building more so-called “affordable” homes isn’t going to magically fix anything. Half the time, “affordable” is just a label they slap on so it sounds good.

What would actually help is proper regulation of the housing market—something that stops wild speculation and keeps prices from shooting up for no real reason. That’s how you make housing affordable again, not by building endlessly.

We already have enough homes. The real issue is that one landlord can buy up dozens or even hundreds of properties on the same street and then rent them out for double the normal price, which pushes the whole area up. If we had better rules in place, those homes could go to regular working people at fair, reasonable prices instead of being hoarded for profit.

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Avatar for - Tiger

I think people living in Greater London should all receive free access services. Instead of paying fares, we should be taxed via GLA. This would promote usage and decrease the amount of cars on the road. It would also help stop the hundreds...

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I think people living in Greater London should all receive free access services. Instead of paying fares, we should be taxed via GLA. This would promote usage and decrease the amount of cars on the road. It would also help stop the hundreds of millions (around £200m) we use every year from fare dodgers! For most people this would be cheaper than paying daily. It means the fare dodgers  would have to now pay for the services (like they should). It would also encourage people that  use it to stop using their cars and   use public transport.

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