On London Extra: Devolving immigration

In late 2016, as Remain City faced the fallout of the UK voting Leave, there were serious debates about London having its own immigration arrangements. The City Corporation asked if elements of national policy might be devolved so that businesses could still get the workers they needed. The London Chamber made proposals about "practical immigration for post-Brexit London". Centre for London explored the notion of a "London visa". The London Assembly invited guests to discuss it. The freshly-elected Mayor Khan was receptive.

Of course, it never happened and was never likely to, given the London-bashing nationalism of successive Conservative governments since the EU vote. But all of a sudden London's population is estimated to have shrunk a little bit for the first time since the 1980s (excluding the pandemic years), primarily because fewer people are moving here from overseas. And now we have a Prime Minister who has put devolution at the centre of his programme for government. The time feels right to talk some more about the London visa idea - and, while we're at it, about London and immigration more broadly.