London is becoming a Tale of Two Cities

It was a quiet ceremony, but a significant one. As the clocks struck midnight in New York yesterday, the chimes heralded the beginning not just of a new year but of a new era. After 12 years of Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership, in the very early hours of Wednesday morning Bill de Blasio was sworn in as Mayor of New York. He takes charge of a great global city, but one riddled with inequalities, poverty and growing unrest. Having been elected by a landslide after a bold and hard-hitting campaign that focused on New York’s soaring inequality, de Blasio now faces his toughest task of all: tackling the problems he has so presciently identified. It will not be easy: the city’s divisions are deeply enshrined and there are vested interests that want them to stay that way. But New Yorkers should have hope that, in their new Mayor, they have found a man who, at the very least, will give it a good go.

How successful de Blasio proves to be matters not just for New Yorkers but for those of us who live in, and care about, other great world cities – cities facing similar problems to those of the Big Apple. Each week we hear new evidence that confirms what many of us have sensed for some time: that the story of London, too, is becoming a tale of two cities.

I am proud to be a Londoner through and through. I was born here, went to university here and represent a constituency here. London is a vibrant, successful, cosmopolitan world city. Its wealth and prosperity are important parts of that. The city’s economy continues to grow, and its success continues to prop up the rest of the UK economy. Yet too many Londoners are not feeling the benefits of this success. Most of them contribute to it; working long hours and dutifully paying their taxes, but are part of a huge success story that they don’t share the rewards of.

In fact, recent research by the London School of Economics lays bare just how unequal our city is. The capital is now the most unequal region in England, and the gap between rich and poor is growing. Our city is becoming increasingly divided.

Perhaps most worryingly of all, things are getting worse. The recession has had an effect on most of us. But it certainly hasn’t had an equal impact across the city. The poorest 10% of Londoners have lost an eye-watering 24% of their income since 2008, while the richest 10% have seen their income drop by just 3%. In short, inequality has soared.

We Londoners often boast about our city’s theatres and restaurants and nightlife, but try telling that to the millions living here that have neither the free time nor the spare cash for such luxuries. We must not allow our great city to become one of have nots and have yachts. The rising tide of London’s economic success must lift all boats.

The gleaming City skyscrapers where millions are made every day are a towering example of London’s financial power. But that means little to the families, just a mile down the road, who can see Canary Wharf from through the window of their damp, overcrowded council house as they struggle to pay the bills and put food on the table.

In fact, every new study into London’s economic climate exposes more and more the hidden reality of a world city whose success masks widespread poverty, deprivation and suffering.

The latest London Poverty Profile found that 2.1 million Londoners – more than a quarter – live in poverty, meaning the city’s poverty rate is 28%. That’s 7% higher than the rest of England, and significantly higher than New York and Tokyo. Incomes in London are more unequal than in any UK other region.

The problem is partly a lack of jobs, but nearly 60% of those in poverty in London are in working families. This makes the campaign for a London Living Wage ever more important. Until employers in our city accept the need to pay their employees fairly, progress will be slow. And there is a long way to go: one in ten full-time employees in the capital is still paid less than the amount they need to live off.

But the major problem is housing. The media trumpeted the fact that the apartments at the One Hyde Park development are the most expensive in the world, but behind the headlines lie the stark facts that one in three London homes is not decent, and one in five is overcrowded. London’s 7%-higher-than average poverty rate can entirely be explained by its exorbitant property prices; when poverty is measured before housing costs, London has the same poverty rate as the rest of the country.

To tackle London’s housing crisis we need caps on private rents, and we desperately need to build more affordable homes. If building decent homes for Londoners means possibly reclassifying parts of the city’s green belt, then that is an option that should be looked at. But despite research urgently highlighting the need for real action on housing, our Mayor has only managed to build 2119 affordable homes in the whole of London this financial year – just 1% of the 200,000 new homes per year that the city needs.

In fact, the Mayor can and must do more across the board to address growing inequality in London: on transport fares, which have risen over 50% on his watch, on energy prices and on job creation.

Boris is more than happy to talk about bicycles and bendy buses, but he won’t address the fact that the city he leads is becoming ever more divided. Londoners deserve better. London needs leaders that will tackle the big problems facing the city – not try to distract us with useless cable cars and shiny new buses that aren’t fit for purpose.

To bridge the growing gap in our city, it is homes, jobs and investment that London urgently needs – not vanity projects, publicity stunts and headline-grabbing gimmicks.

The pride that Londoners have in their city remains strong, but that identity and sense of community comes under threat when the fibre of our city is pervaded by huge inequalities. To succeed, London cannot continue to be a city of success only for those at the top. It needs to become a city of opportunity, hope and prosperity for all Londoners. Tackling the city’s growing income gap should be a concern of all Londoners – not least because it will benefit us all. Boris could learn much from Bill de Blasio. It is time for the Mayor to stand up for both Londons. Even more importantly, it is time for him to take action to bridge the gap between them.

David Lammy is the Labour MP for Tottenham