London needs devolved powers on a par with Scotland and Wales if it is to solve its housing crisis, a London Assembly member has argued.
Green Party assembly member Benali Hamdache said City Hall's fiscal powers remain "far behind" those of comparable European capitals such as Madrid and Berlin.
The argument comes at a moment when devolution is already moving. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has handed mayors across the country additional powers since taking office, including the ability to levy an overnight tourist tax on visitors, and has announced plans to let authorities keep a share of the income tax raised in their areas.
Hamdache's case is that this still leaves a "huge gulf" between what Whitehall has given and what City Hall needs, particularly when London is measured against cities such as New York. Closing that gap, he said, would allow Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan to raise more money and put more into housebuilding.
He acknowledged it was positive to see other strategic authorities catching up with the powers the Greater London Authority already holds, but argued the capital faces a "unique" set of challenges that justify different treatment.
"London has the least amount of devolved taxation powers compared to major European cities, while the challenges that London faces are very specific to this city," Hamdache told a Centre for London fringe event at the Green Party's annual conference in Brighton on Friday 2 October.
"We are one of the few cities that is closing down primary schools because of the state of house prices. There might be policy levers that we might want to see specifically implemented in London that might not work for other metro regions.
"I would like to start to see devolved powers to London on the level of Wales or Scotland."
The point about school closures has a direct local resonance. Waltham Forest has recently moved to close Lammas School in Leyton and is consulting on closing Edinburgh Primary School, both because of falling pupil numbers.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the event, Hamdache said his thinking was shaped by the powers held by New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, who can levy a municipal income tax and impose property surcharges to raise revenue.
"When you compare the amount of powers that Mamdani has compared to Sadiq Khan, it's a huge, huge gulf," he said. "Other London European cities [also] have much more tax rating powers. They're able to set up a tourist tax themselves rather than wait for Andy Burnham to do so after many years of waiting."
As a first step, he suggested looking back at the structure of the Greater London Council, which was abolished in 1986.
"The mayor still has a lot less powers over London than the GLC did. The GLC had influence on education, had influences on health, and we are slowly, slowly returning back to where that was, but we are still far behind," he said.
"When it comes to housing, the opportunity to raise more income, to spend that on housing would be hugely, hugely powerful. The opportunity to have more devolved powers to deliver housing on a London level on a strategic level would be hugely, hugely important."
