Londoners want an Assembly with more bite

66% of Londoners believe London Assembly powers should be
strengthened or maintained if the office of the Mayor were given more devolved powers.

In a YouGov survey commissioned by the GLA Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into London’s place in the Government’s proposed devolution reforms, Londoners answered questions about the powers of the Mayor of London and the cross-party London Assembly.

When asked whether the London Assembly should get more or fewer powers if the office of the Mayor were to be given more devolved powers, a total of 66% of Londoners considered the Assembly’s position should be either maintained or increased – with 36% believing the London Assembly should get more powers and 30% thinking the role should stay the same. Only 5% think that the Assembly should have fewer powers.

If the office of the Mayor of London were given more control over taxes raised in London, 41% of Londoners expressed support for the office of the Mayor of London to have control over a tourism levy (a potential tax on overnight stays or a surcharge on visitor attractions for overseas visitors).

In terms of potential future devolved powers, regulating private rented accommodation (26%), NHS services (25%), and the criminal justice system and policing (25%) were three of the areas in which Londoners expressed strongest support for the office of the Mayor of London receiving more devolved powers, if they had to choose.

Chair of the GLA Oversight Committee, Bassam Mahfouz AM, said:

“As a world-leading global city, we’re looking at the question of devolution for London through the binoculars of how it compares to cities across the globe and how they exercise their powers.

“This survey was our chance to hear directly from Londoners—and the message was clear. There’s considerable support for stronger powers, not just for the Office of Mayor, but also for the Assembly to hold them to account.

“In addition to that, there was strong backing for some sort of tourism levy, just like other top destinations.

“But most importantly, Londoners want to see the Office of the Mayor empowered to deliver on the issues that clearly matter to them, including regulation of the private rented sector and over the criminal justice system and policing.

“All of this will feed into our report into how London’s powers could shape up over the next 25 years, which will be published once the investigation has been completed.”