Sadiq Khan has demanded a raft of New York-style tax powers following his trip to North America
Returning from a five day trip to the US, London mayor Sadiq Khan has demanded the devolution of fresh tax powers to City Hall.
Khan has visited Chicago, Montreal and New York over the last few days, meeting with the mayors of all three cities to discuss extremism, housing and social integration.
And he has returned with a new demand to match the powers of some US city mayors over taxes and public services.
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Khan re-launched the London Finance Commission to produce "beefed up" proposals for further devolution in July, and today noted that New York mayor Bill DeBlasio controls education, skills, healthcare and social service systems, as well as taxes on income, tobacco, alcohol and property, on top of equivalent powers to Khan's remit of housing, transport and policing.
As a result, he is demanding more control over skills and training, national rail train services, tax raising powers, criminal justice and health services.
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“I've seen first-hand that mayors in cities like New York, Chicago and Montreal are able to make huge improvements to the lives of the people they represent, because they have more control over services in their city,” Khan said.
“London needs that control so that we can protect jobs and growth and make London a better city to live in for all Londoners. This will benefit people living in every region of Great Britain – because when London succeeds, Britain succeeds.”