The picture George Osborne doesn’t want you to see

Over the ten years that I have had the privilege of addressing you as Chancellor, I have been able year by year to record how the City of London has risen by your efforts, ingenuity and creativity to become a new world leader.

Now today over 40 per cent of the world’s foreign equities are traded here, more than New York: over 30 per cent of the world’s currencies exchanges take place here, more than New York and Tokyo combined, while New York and Tokyo are reliant mainly on their large American and Asian domestic markets, 80 per cent of our business is international, and in a study last week of the top 50 financial cities, the City of London came first.

So I congratulate you Lord Mayor and the City of London on these remarkable achievements, an era that history will record as the beginning of a new golden age for the City of London.

And I believe the lesson we learn from the success of the City has ramifications far beyond the City itself – that we are leading because we are first in putting to work exactly that set of qualities that is needed for global success:

openness to the world and global reach, pioneers of free trade and its leading defenders, with a deep and abiding belief in open markets,

champions of diversity in ownership and talent, and of flexibility and adaptability to change, and a basic faith that from wherever it comes and from whatever background, what matters is that the talent, ingenuity and potential of people is harnessed to drive performance. 

And I believe it will be said of this age, the first decades of the 21st century, that out of the greatest restructuring of the global economy, perhaps even greater than the industrial revolution, a new world order was created.

When my predecessors spoke to this event a century or more ago, the world order of the nineteenth century they described was defined by the balance of military power, and saw European empires dividing the world between them from 1945 to 1990 when my predecessors of the post war years spoke to you. 

The world order was defined by the high-stake stand-off of the cold war years, these were orders ultimately reflected by political weight and military strength. 

Today with Asia already out-producing Europe, India and China are becoming part of this new order, principally because of their economic strength and potential. And while military and political power retain their status, future strength will depend much more on economic strength.  Indeed success will flow to, and the next stage of globalisation will be driven by those countries:

which are open and not closed, stable, pro competition and flexible, able to adjust quickly to change, and can as a result find – through their social and political cultures – the best means of developing and creating wealth through the scientific, creative, and entrepreneurial talent of their people, not least through being world class in education and skills.

So why am I more optimistic than ever about the future of our islands, just one per cent of the world’s population, in this new era of globalisation?

By your efforts Britain is already second to none: for our openness, pro Europe, pro free trade, a world leader in stability, and we will entrench that stability, by ensuring Britain’s macroeconomic framework remains a world benchmark, and we are flexible, and in being vigilant against complacency, we must be, as I believe we are ready to become even more flexible.

So let me say as I begin my new job, I want to continue to work with you in helping you do yours, listening to what you say, always recognising your international success is critical to that of Britain’s overall and considering together the things that we must do – and, just as important, things we should not do – to maintain our competitiveness: enhancing a risk based regulatory approach, as we did in resisting pressure for a British Sarbannes-Oxley after Enron and Worldcom, maintaining our competitive tax regime, and having cut our main rate of corporation tax to again the lowest in the G8, today we are publishing the next stage of implementing Sir David Varney’s recommendations for a more risk based approach to the administration of the system, with greater certainty on tax matters when it’s needed most;

and ensuring a modern planning system, that balances our economic and environmental needs with a more predictable and accountable decision making process, including that for major infrastructure projects.