A proposal to turn Greater London into an independent state drew an overwhelming No, but the debate was less a defence of the capital’s current arrangements than an argument over who depends on whom. The most-respected Yes voice framed separation as a chance for the rest of the UK to “get rid of us”; the chamber’s strongest No cases answered that London is too entangled with the country to be detached.
The best-rated No arguments made the capital a shared institution, not simply a city with a grievance against its neighbours. One called it “our nation’s capital and belongs to all of us”; another warned that sovereignty would “increase that separation, not fix it”, pointing to the City of London’s unusual governance as a problem requiring scrutiny, not secession.
Yes voices made a narrower, fiscal case: one argued that the rest of the UK would be “financially better off” without funds flowing to London. The sharper version was more sardonic, imagining “their manufacturing ethno-state”; it met a No warning that the country could not simply build an “M25 moat” and abandon the places that feed and power the capital. The sides disputed whether London is a drain or a contributor, but neither account made independence sound like a clean break.
That tension puts the vote inside the live argument over devolution and the distribution of public money, without settling either. The No case had the chamber’s highest-rated arguments; the Yes case had fewer voices, but its most-respected one drew force from the very resentment its opponents said independence would deepen.
The room rejected a new border, while leaving the argument over London’s place in the union very much alive.
28 Opinions
No it will become an islamic state
It's the capital of our country. Stop trying to divide us up, with this nonsense.
No its the capital I find the whole idea ridiculous
Can't see how this would help the UK as a whole.
The only reason London votes differently is because we’ve been ethically replaced in our own capital city by decades of mass migration! If anything we need mass remigration targeting the dead weight that need benefits to even live here! Thats literally millions of foreigners in Britain!
I voted yes because I would like to see this enemy state within a state separated from normal people. My original idea had been to wall the entire cesspool in, unbreachable walls, no gates and leave the far left fascists to start eating themselves. Ask THAT in your referendum.
Even though London stands is foreign, workers who commute and companys based there pay roughly a third of all taxes et
Why is this even a thing? It's impact on the rest of the country would be devastating. Some many jobs "in the city" rely on others outwith the M25.
What's the manifesto? I doubt it's Singapore on Thames. More likely sharia plus social justice nonsense. City of London already think men can become women and swim in the Hampstead Ladies' Pond. It would be Climatranistine heaven.
What Lebanon on Thames? It’s the UK’s Capital not a token for paid for Politicians. What we should be looking at is the peculiar position of the City of London, who controls it and the influence of those who run it. We need to abolish the Bank of England whilst arraigning the Governor for Treason in removing Truss’s administration. London is not a Globalists play thing but there are those who think it is.