London business group's 'manifesto for UK growth'

A LEADING business group today issued a rallying call for the next government to unlock the shackled economic power of London to make the capital an "engine of growth" for the whole country.

- Jonathan Prynn

BusinessLDN, which represents more than 170 of London's leading employers, today issued its own manifesto of "quick win" measures and longer term reforms that it said could turbo-charge the capital's economic potential.

It comes after years of what has been seen as an "anti-London" mood in Whitehall after voters in the former "Red Wall" towns and cities of the north and Midlands delivered Brexit to the Leave campaign and the 2019 election to Boris Johnson's Conservatives, despite the capital generating a fiscal surplus of almost £40 billion.

In its document, titled "London as an engine of growth: a manifesto for the next Government", the organisation lists changes the next government could make at little cost after the election result is known on July 5. They include: Scrapping stamp duty on share trades to improve the attractiveness of London as a place to list and invest;