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What a stunning economic finding

London’s outsized contribution to the exchequer should make defending its position a priority in the years after the Brexit vote, a think-tank report has suggested.

Centre for Cities calculated that in the last financial year the capital generated under 30pc of so-called “economy taxes”, the levies most associated with economic growth. The share of these taxes delivered by London has risen by five percentage points, as the Government’s dependence on the city has increased.

London and the SE (really, one economic area in many ways) are some 30% of the UK economy.

7 thoughts on “What a stunning economic finding”

  1. But how much of this is actually about the presence of the state rather than the city? For example, if you’ve got embassies in London, you’re going to have people like decorators, glazers, caterers supplying those embassies and paying taxes. Add Whitehall, fake charities, BBC, other quangoes, half the arts spending.

  2. London combines LA, NYC, and DC.

    The DC aspect is a parasite on the rest of the country. Since a large chunk of the LA aspect is funded by a near-poll tax (the TV licence) it may be viewed as a parasite too.

  3. Perhaps they are angling for a return to city states because that worked so well in the past.

  4. IIRC there is some, soon to be, empty land in Port Talbot. Move the government bits there and the ‘problem’ is solved. I wonder what the local’s opinion would be if the government really was going to come?

  5. @ Liberal Yank
    We’ve tried moving chunks of the government to depressed areas a dozen times. It must have had *some* effect but it’s not been enough for the impact on London to be noticed..

  6. The key is to move all of the top offices. Bonn did quite well while it was the capital. The previous attempt to move the capital 363km east saw that city become far more influential as well.

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