Commenting on the impact of the Chancellor’s Spring Forecast 2026 on the capital, our Research Director, Rob Anderson, said:

“As the Chancellor promised, this year’s Spring Forecast wasn’t framed as a major fiscal event – and that stability matters. It’s good we didn’t see a repeat of the damaging uncertainty that preceded last year’s Autumn Budget.

There’s good news for Londoners. Easing inflation will help alleviate pressures on the cost of living, which is higher in London than anywhere else in the country. And the Chancellor was right to reiterate the positive steps the Government has taken. These include abolishing the two-child benefit limit, which will help tens of thousands of children in the capital; strengthening employments rights, which will give additional protection to London’s workers and; reforms to the planning system, which should help build more homes for Londoners.

But the fundamentals haven’t changed much since we last heard from the Chancellor. What’s more, while the Chancellor amplified the positives, the figures the Government shared today show we can expect less economic growth this year than previously forecast, and unemployment rates are the highest they’ve been for a decade.

It isn’t news to Londoners, or to the rest of the UK, that as a capital and a country we have big problems. Stagnating productivity, crumbling infrastructure, low investment, and falling living standards are problems which are felt everywhere, but particularly in London.

And the Government’s agenda continues to fall short of what’s needed – which is a real shot in the arm to the economy. Only real reform to the way the country is run can deliver that.

Rather than waiting on decisions from Whitehall, London needs the powers and funding to act directly. At present, the capital only retains 7% of the tax it generates – by contrast, New York keeps 50%.

Revitalising how we fund London’s government would allow the Mayor and boroughs to invest strategically – from creating a positive environment for business, to helping young people into jobs, to properly funding the affordable housing the city desperately needs.

Instead, London’s leaders are boxed in by Treasury decision-making, leaving nine London boroughs in need of emergency funding packages. This is not resilience, nor does it give the city the agility needed to restart our economy – it’s firefighting.

Strengthening London’s autonomy isn’t just about local priorities. Give London and its local authorities powers in line with our global peers, and we can deliver on what the capital and country needs: tackling the housing crisis, reversing London’s stagnating productivity, and ensuring our economy works for everyone”