2015/16 Summary Business Plan

2015/16
Summary
Business Plan
The Year Ahead
The work of London First balances tackling issues that have an immediate and pressing
impact on London with anticipating actions that will ensure the capital remains the best city in
the world to do business 30 years in the future.
Our business plan, which was adopted in 2013 and runs until 2020, is reviewed each year to
ensure our focus remains the right one for the prevailing environment. It is based on nine
competitiveness ‘drivers’ (see below), which form the core work streams for the organisation,
and at any one time a few ambitious ‘priorities’ drawn from these drivers.
We intend to move our year end to September to coincide with our membership year. So this
business plan runs for 18 months, from April 2015 through to September 2016, thus covering
the period from the 2015 General Election, through to the 2016 Mayoral election and into the
new Mayor’s first months in office.
Traditionally, our priorities are the most high profile focus of our work across the year. But the
degree of uncertainty we face over the next 18 months means being fleet of foot will be crucial.
So, in the next period we will be flexible in the weight given to different drivers at different
times, with focus on our current priorities – housing and the Economic Development Agenda
- dialled up and down as required.
This will allow us to prioritise areas that may come quickly to the fore following the General
Election, such as infrastructure investment, air capacity, tax, immigration, and the EU.
We will then update this summary business plan in the summer to reflect the post-election
landscape.
In parallel with our activity to influence London issues, we will seek to continue to improve
our member product, surveying our members to refine our understanding of member value,
and improving our offer accordingly.
Key Activity
Our key activities through to September 2016 are:
Pre-General Election
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Economic Development Agenda (launched in January): We will start with focus on
three ‘quick wins’. These are: keeping London open for business (chiefly activity
around visas and immigration), improving digital connectivity, and setting up a joint
business/London government approach to securing investment from the 2015
spending review.
Business Manifesto: We will undertake general lobbying activity based on our
manifesto asks on economically valuable immigration, EU membership, devolution,
infrastructure spending and tax.
Post-General Election
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General Election: We will work vigorously to ensure the new government protects
London’s competitive position. We will continue building relationship with politicians
and activity such as attending party conferences.
Air capacity: We will support campaigning by Let Britain Fly ahead of, and post, the
Airports Commission report, particularly if the new government is perceived to be
negative on expansion.
Spending Review: We will be a strong voice in, and facilitator of, a joined up London
business / London Enterprise Panel (LEP) / Greater London Authority (GLA) advocacy
programme to help secure the necessary infrastructure investment for London.
Global Cities Business Alliance: The first VIP event for international business
leaders and Mayors is to be held on 17 June.
Associate membership: We will make a decision on whether to proceed with a new
strand of membership product to attract a wider range of businesses
Pre-Mayoral election and immediately thereafter
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Business Manifesto: We will identify our major asks of the new Mayor and engage
with all Mayoral candidates on our priorities. We will produce a series of “memos to
the Mayor” on a range of issues from better management of congestion to the
importance of promoting London effectively. We expect our two priorities to continue
to be:
Economic Development Agenda: We will seek buy-in to the agenda from prospective
mayoral candidates, pushing for it to form the basis of their economic development
strategies. We will also act as an advisor/progress chaser to the LEP to help keep up
momentum.
Housing Campaign: From autumn 2015, we will campaign for the mayoral candidates
to commit to credible policies that will double London’s housing starts. The campaign
will be in a similar vein to Let Britain Fly, with key events every six weeks up until the
Mayoral election.
Drivers of London’s success
Our work up to 2020 is focused on a set of “drivers” of London’s competitiveness. These are:

Devolution: London government having the powers, resources and competencies necessary
to run the city and support its growth. We are focused on the outcomes that devolution would
support (e.g. infrastructure investment, housing supply, and skills provision) rather than on
devolution for devolution’s sake.

Economic Development Agenda: facilitating a business-led London economic development
strategy from London Government. Following the successful launch of the Economic
Development Agenda, we are moving to implementation as detailed above.

Infrastructure that enables businesses in London to function efficiently. We will play a leading
role in creating and implementing an advocacy plan for central government ahead of the next
spending review, while also working with Transport for London on prioritising big future
transport projects.

EU: keeping London and the UK at the heart of the EU single market. London First will make
the business case for continued membership in the event of a referendum. If the new
government commits to a referendum we expect the UK’s relationship with the EU to become
a high priority issue for London business.

Housing: a step-change increase in the provision of housing to support London’s growth .
From autumn, we will begin a campaign pushing for a doubling of the number of homes built
in London each year.

Airport capacity and services that enable London businesses to travel to their clients, and
vice versa, smoothly and efficiently. Working with Let Britain Fly, we will put pressure on
politicians to implement the recommendation of the Airports Commission, and also press for
better border control procedures and a more customer-friendly tourist visa regime.

Skills: London’s employers must be able to recruit the workforces they need at all levels. We
will focus on a combination of maintaining an open migration regime and improving training
so that Londoners have the skills and attitude to be employable when they leave school or
college; we will run Skills London again and a new “Capital Talent” event aimed at older
people.

A world-class built environment: we will advocate planning and development policy to
deliver growth and improved urban realm, with work focused around the new Mayor’s London
Plan revisions and Opportunity Areas. We will produce a paper on delivery of the latter in
summer 2015. Our work to improve the public realm in the West End continues.

Tax: London has one of the most stable and competitive tax regimes in the world. We will work
to maintain competitive personal and corporation taxes, dependent on the tax programme of
the new Government.