James Ashton: London must grasp opportunities in crisis

Now deals and even recruitment processes that had had Brexit break clauses inserted in them are dead in the water. Stock-market flotations worth billions of pounds are on ice. One silver lining is the uncomfortable coupling of the London Stock Exchange with Deutsche Börse is unlikely to go ahead.

That is just the short term. Stand by for banking lay-offs, the knock-on effect among the legions of support staff, accountants and consultants and the jobs that will no longer be created here. A weaker London does not make for a stronger UK.

Bashing economic activity and blunting our competitiveness seems an obtuse way of making the capital’s housing stock more affordable. In fact, cheapening property prices might draw overseas bargain hunters back to the top end of the market. The same is true in equities. The weak pound points to another foreign takeover spree by American predators looking to snap up British-headquartered assets with international reach. Bring on the branch economy.

But enough negativity. The British people have spoken. Born Londoners will struggle for a time to look in the face the polite, hard-working Poles and Bulgarians who share our city. Regardless, business goes on.

It is important to remember what is not changed by Brexit. London is still the best place in which to do business. That interplay of the corporate, political and creative, greased by our financial firepower, is unique in global commerce. Entrepreneurialism will not be dampened.

What is under threat is our mantle as the best place to do business from. London the trading post, the exporter of services and goods, is under threat. It is why the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has already held out the hope that the UK can remain in the single market even if it is no longer in the EU. It would be possible, if we contributed a reduced sum to Brussels coffers, to strike a deal, on free movement of labour that allowed people with a firm job offer into the country. That might not square with the Brexiteers’ pledge to “take back control” but we must make sure that talent can flow in and ideas can flow out just as they always have.

What London must do as much as it can is set its own economic course. With recession a distinct possibility, the capital matters more than ever. Whoever has a hand on the nation’s finances needs to understand the return derived from investing here.

Here are three priorities. First, we must keep making the case for infrastructure. Airport expansion at Heathrow or Gatwick may be on the back burner — especially if Boris Johnson gets the keys to Downing Street — but Crossrail 2 and affordable housing cannot be allowed to drift from the agenda.

These projects are not essential to cope with future growth — they are dealing with capacity constraints we already struggle with.

Second, constitutional turmoil presents an opportunity to look again at London’s economic settlement. It has still to be determined how the full retention of business rates will be distributed from 2020. Even with those funds, the capital’s devolution deal looks inferior to that of Greater Manchester, and Khan can only look enviously across the Atlantic at the pot of locally raised taxes New York can spend.

Third, as the UK’s biggest driver of growth and creator of wealth and jobs, its presence must be felt as a new trading relationship with Europe and the world is forged.

The nation has spoken. Now the voice of London’s vibrant and diverse business community must be heard.