On Thursday, 6 July, we welcomed members and stakeholders to our fourth‘What Next for London?’ briefing, hosted by Dar Group at their new office in Holborn. Guided by our policy team, this event series shares insight into the inner workings of the capital as well as opportunities for members to get involved in our work.
Our Chief Executive, John Dickie opened proceedings with an overview of the political landscape. Opinion polls show that Labour continues to stay ahead of the Conservatives, with the gap between the two parties widening in recent months as the impact of rising interest rates and high inflation ripples through to voters. The Prime Minister is struggling to meet his five pledges, and cost-of-living pressures will continue to be high up the political agenda.
It’s not clear when the next general election will take place, but the London Mayoral elections are now less than a year away. Recent polling shows that Sadiq Khan is seven percentage points clear of the as of yet undecided Tory candidate. However, the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) could be a key factor for many Londoners, which might be reflected in the upcoming Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election. It remains to be seen how ULEZ will play with voters after it comes into effect, which is currently due to happen in August – subject to an ongoing legal challenge.
BUSINESS PLAN
Our Deputy Chief Executive, Muniya Barua, shared insight into our two-year Business Plan. Published last October, it sets out our activity across the waterfront of issues that affect London’s competitiveness across our core policy areas of people, place, connectivity, and sustainability.
Muniya ran through some of our key outputs, including the flagship Place Commission report as well as our role in leading the London Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), which aims to address the mismatch in the supply and demand of skills. The report, which will be published later this summer, is a data-driven and employer-led blueprint for transforming the capital’s skills system.
Muniya also highlighted several projects in the pipeline, including our new partnership with Arup to explore the benefits and challenges of creating a collective business-led Carbon Offset Fund. Attendees then took part in an interactive session on key priorities and opportunities for their business and London, which will inform a refresh of our Business Plan and BusinessLDN manifestos ahead of the upcoming Mayoral and general elections.
To learn more about our Business Plan and share your views on issues facing your business, contact Muniya Barua.
PEOPLE
The cost-of-living crisis has placed childcare high up the political agenda, with Keir Starmer setting out some of Labour’s plans earlier in the day. But while there has been increasing policy focus on childcare in the last year, there is still a gap for an independent voice putting the business lens on the issue. In the current system, cost and availability remain key issues as London families pay over twice as much as those in some other regions.
Our Programme Director, Ed Richardson, outlined how BusinessLDN is working with KPMG and Central District Alliance to produce a report with bold policy solutions to reform childcare policy to inform our advocacy and engagement with the Government and opposition in the lead-up to the next general election.
Please get in touch if you have any case studies of good practice support staff with their childcare needs from your organisations, or any thoughts on which big interventions in childcare policy from Government or businesses could have the biggest positive impact.
To learn more about our People work, click here or contact Ed Richardson.
PLACE
BusinessLDN’s Policy Delivery Director, Jonathan Seager, ran through key findings from the Place Commission, our flagship report of cross-sector business leaders that sets out a new vision for how the capital’s places and spaces should evolve following the pandemic to enable people to thrive and businesses to succeed. The Commission identified six key areas for action: transport, housing, sustainability, digitalisation, placemaking and managing change. The next phase of work will look to engage members to fill in the gaps around the report’s high-level recommendations, with key areas including:
- Advocating for London government to take bolder decisions to increase housing supply;
- Accelerating the positive direction of travel to create better places;
- Creating an action plan for retrofitting owner-occupied homes in the capital;
- Exploring solutions to TfL’s funding;
- Harnessing the potential of smart technologies to create 21st century places to live;
- Continuing to make the case for further devolution to London.
To learn more about our Place work, click here or contact Jonathan Seager.