The Mayor of London is urging the Chancellor to invest more in the UK’s capital.
A fresh Labour civil war is at risk of erupting as Sir Sadiq Khan says he is “fed up with anti-London Chancellors”. The Labour Mayor is urging Rachel Reeves to “invest in London” during her annual fiscal announcement this November as he claims he is tired of ministers who focus on other parts of the country. Mr Khan says he hopes to see expenditure channelled into London in the November Budget.
“What would help me is if the chancellor actually invests in London,” he told the Financial Times. “We need to have a pro-London chancellor. I’m fed up with anti-London chancellors.” Mr Khan added that investing in infrastructure, housing and businesses benefits both the capital and the rest of the UK. “It’s not London versus the rest of the country, it’s London with the rest of Britain,” he said.
Sadiq Khan says he needs a ‘pro-London chancellor’ (Image: Getty)
Following his comments, a spokesman for the Mayor said his concerns with chancellors who he believed to be “anti-London” were primarily aimed at previous governments, opposed to Ms Reeves.
Under the Conservatives, Transport for London reportedly became more dependent on fares, business rates and advertising for funding, while still receiving capital funding from the government.
During the Covid pandemic, financial support was allocated for national railway operators to cover the billions of pounds of loss due to a sharp decrease in customer demand. This included TfL which received £6bn through a series of short-term bailouts.
Over the past year, TfL has received a record £2.17bn deal from 2026 until 2030, as well as funding for affordable housing and ad hoc projects such as pedestrianising Oxford Street – the cost of which is estimated to be around £150m.
Mr Khan’s plea to the Chancellor for further investment in London follows Donald Trump’s attack on the mayor this week.
The US President accused the Labour Mayor of putting the UK’s capital under ‘Sharia Law’. Mr Trump made the remarks during a speech at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
He said: “I look at London where you have a terrible mayor. A terrible, terrible mayor. It’s been so changed, so changed, now they want to go to Sharia law. It’s really a different country, you can’t do that.”
The Mayor has since hit back, insisting London is the “greatest city in the world” which is “safer than major US cities”. A spokesperson said: “We’re delighted to welcome the record number of US citizens moving here.”
On X, Mr Khan added: “Ignore the haters. London is the goat.”
