Statement on Chancellor announcement about tax revenue control for local priorities
Responding to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s announcement1 that regional mayors could be given control of some tax revenue to spend on their local priorities, Chair of the GLA Oversight Committee, Bassam Mahfouz AM, said:
“This will mean that money raised in London, will stay in London, and deliver on London’s priorities.
“We need to rebuild trust in politics, and this means having genuine power at a local level.
“Power without money is meaningless.
“The London Assembly has previously called fiscal powers the ‘missing link’ in London’s devolution settlement and has called for more financial autonomy for the Mayor. This could deliver the transformative change people so desperately need.
“In September last year, the GLA Oversight Committee published its take on the potential impacts of the Government’s devolution proposals on London.
“The Committee made 14 recommendations in its report,2 which included devolving additional revenue-raising powers to the Greater London Authority (GLA), as well as enabling the GLA to implement a tourism levy on overnight accommodation, with revenues ringfenced for investing in infrastructure and services that enhance London’s appeal as a place to live and visit.
“This is another measure the government has taken onboard and agreed to implement - and another win for London”
Notes to editors
- Mayors to gain more spending power under Reeves tax plans - BBC News
- Read the report ‘Trusting London to deliver: A new devolution settlement for the capital’
- Bassam Mahfouz AM, Chair of the GLA Oversight Committee, is available for interview.
- Find out more about the GLA Oversight Committee investigation into London’s place in the Government’s proposed devolution reforms.
- Find out more about the GLA Oversight Committee.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
For media enquiries, please contact Alison Bell on 07887 832 918. For out of hours media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer.