Conservative council leaders have urged ministers not to hand new devolved powers to City Hall alone, but to give London's boroughs a direct stake too, MyLondon has reported. Speaking at a Central London Forward fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Cllr Paul Swaddle, Leader of Westminster City Council, and Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, called for a direct "financial link" so that boroughs benefit from the visitors and major events they host, not just clean up after them.
"We do that stuff now because it's the right thing to do, not because of the benefit, but if we had the benefit, then it would be massive," Cllr Swaddle said.
Cllr Campbell warned that the boroughs which actually deliver local services are being left out, with devolution talks taking place between City Hall and central government. "If they're talking about devolution, it's more than Whitehall to City Hall. It's actually Whitehall to the town halls," she said.
The Government's devolution plans have already handed mayors new powers, including the ability to introduce an overnight levy on visitors. London Councils has called for boroughs to keep half of what the levy raises by default.
At a separate London Councils event, Gareth Bacon MP, the Conservative Shadow Minister for London, said real devolution meant power passing "from Whitehall to town halls, not just to City Hall."
You can read Kumail Jaffer's article in MyLondon in full here.
