Sadiq Khan slammed over underutilised mayoral powers in London 2026

Key Points

• Allegations of Underutilisation: The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, has been accused of failing to effectively deploy his existing “convening powers” to address the capital’s critical skills gap and connect local talent with corporate opportunities.
• Devolution Debates: Critics argue that while Khan consistently demands expanded devolutionary powers from the central government, he is failing to capitalise on the executive mechanisms already at his disposal.
• Regional Comparisons: Opponents point to other regional Metro Mayors, such as Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham and Liverpool City Region’s Steve Rotherham, as exemplary models of utilizing local cross-sector coordination to deliver major public projects.
• The Skills Paradox: Business leaders highlighted a stark economic contradiction in London, which boasts high levels of human capital alongside persistent youth unemployment and significant corporate training deficits.
• Structural Constraints: Supporters and regional alliance representatives defend the Mayor by emphasizing the structural limitations of the Greater London Authority (GLA) compared to the more integrated frameworks of northern Combined Authorities.
• City Hall Response: The mayoral team maintains that substantial progress is being made via the London Growth Plan and millions of pounds in targeted skills funding to future-proof the city’s economy.

London (The Londoner News) June 24, 2026 – The Mayor of London has faced sharp criticism from business leaders and regional stakeholders for allegedly failing to use his existing executive authority to address the capital’s mounting skills shortage, even as he continues to demand broader devolutionary powers from Westminster. In a series of testimonies delivered during a high-profile parliamentary session, political and commercial figures argued that Sir Sadiq Khan has neglected his vital “convening powers”—the ability to naturally assemble and coordinate boroughs, commercial enterprises, and local institutions—to systematically bridge the divide between corporate opportunities and local talent. The critique positions London’s leadership at a distinct disadvantage compared to other Metro Mayors across the United Kingdom, who have successfully wielded identical collaborative powers to push through transformative infrastructure and social welfare policies without waiting for formal statutory adjustments.

The confrontation took place during the opening inquiry session of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for London, which was specifically assembled to investigate methods to ignite lagging productivity within the UK capital. Throughout the session, attendees noted a visible lack of cross-sector alignment in London, pointing out that while previous mayoral administrations under Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson proactively championed the city’s operational capabilities, the current administration has become over-reliant on seeking constitutional changes rather than optimizing everyday governance. This operational stagnation has triggered warnings that London is actively slipping down international league tables in crucial areas such as inward investment, productivity, and basic digital connectivity.

Why is the Mayor of London facing criticism over his current powers?

The core of the dispute rests on how a major metropolitan leader should balance the pursuit of new legal powers with the execution of existing mandates. As reported by Kumail Jaffer, Democracy Reporter of MyLondon, critics assert that Sir Sadiq Khan has disproportionately focused his political energy on lobbying the central government for more extensive devolutionary controls while letting his immediate executive options lie dormant. The debate intensifies at a time when London’s macroeconomic indicators are showing signs of structural strain, particularly regarding how local workforces are trained and integrated into high-value industries.

During the parliamentary inquiry, multiple witnesses expressed concern that the lack of hands-on coordination from City Hall is actively harming the city’s competitiveness. As reported by Kumail Jaffer of MyLondon, an anonymous speaker at the event observed that “fundamentally, people are feeling that there hasn’t been the usage of the powers that the mayor has, it is one of those fundamental reasons we are not competing where we want to be competing both nationally and internationally.” This perspective suggests that the business community is increasingly looking for a proactive regional champion rather than a passive administrator who attributes structural shortcomings solely to legislative limits.

Furthermore, the inquiry highlighted that this perceived leadership vacuum has real-world consequences for the capital’s international standing. As reported by Kumail Jaffer of MyLondon, the same parliamentary speaker noted that “London’s been sinking down a number of league tables on productivity, inward investment, people leaving the city, even our connectivity, sort of, appears the worst in Europe, on mobile phone productivity.”

What are the existing “convening powers” of the Mayor of London?

In British regional governance, “convening powers” refer to the informal yet highly potent ability of an elected metro mayor to act as an institutional glue, bringing together disparate municipal boroughs, private corporations, educational institutions, and community stakeholders to solve complex issues. Unlike explicit statutory powers, which are legally codified and ring-fenced by specific parliamentary acts, convening authority relies on the political mandate and media profile of the office to force independent organisations into binding, cooperative strategies.

Within the context of the Greater London Authority, the mayor possesses the unique capacity to dictate the strategic direction of the city through overarching frameworks like the London Growth Plan. However, business leaders argue that setting a vision on paper is fundamentally different from actively managing relationships between the city’s commercial hubs and its outer boroughs. The criticism leveled at Khan emphasizes that these soft-power mechanisms are precisely what allowed previous London mayors to deliver major structural overhauls, implying that the current administration’s reluctance to fully deploy these tools has hindered local economic integration.

How do other UK Metro Mayors use their authority differently?

The criticism against the London Mayor is frequently contextualized by comparing his record with the operational styles of other regional leaders across England. Across the UK, Metro Mayors have increasingly used their offices to bypass bureaucratic roadblocks by building direct, voluntary coalitions between public services and private entities, demonstrating that significant structural change can be achieved without immediate legislative devolution.

What did Steve Rotherham achieve in Liverpool?

In the north of England, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotherham has been cited as a prime example of a leader leveraging localized alignment to deliver major utility infrastructure. As reported by Kumail Jaffer of MyLondon, Rotherham successfully “built agreement between local authorities to deliver LCR connect and provide ultra-fast broadband to his constituents.”

This project required coordinating multiple independent local councils, private infrastructure firms, and regional stakeholders. By acting as the central organizing authority, the Liverpool Mayor was able to establish a unified digital network that directly boosted the region’s commercial attractiveness, bypassing the need for specific, newly devolved telecommunications powers from central government.

How did Andy Burnham tackle homelessness in Greater Manchester?

Similarly, former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has been widely praised for using his office as a central command to address severe social crises. As reported by Kumail Jaffer of MyLondon, Burnham effectively “coordinated public services to help drive down homelessness, despite such responsibility laying with local councils in the region.”

By utilizing his platform to align charitable organizations, health services, corporate donors, and municipal housing departments, Burnham established the ‘A Bed Every Night’ initiative. This collective approach demonstrated that a metro mayor can successfully orchestrate a unified regional response to a crisis, even when the formal legal and financial responsibilities technically remain fragmented across individual local authorities.

What is the “skills paradox” currently impacting London’s economy?

One of the most pressing issues raised during the APPG inquiry was London’s persistent inability to match its highly educated population with the immediate structural needs of its premier employers. This phenomenon, labeled by corporate analysts as a “skills paradox,” represents a significant drag on the capital’s overall productivity and threatens its long-term economic viability.

As reported by Kumail Jaffer of MyLondon, Matthew Fell, Director of Competitiveness at BusinessLDN, stated that “London’s superpower lies in the agglomeration of different sectors – but there is a skills paradox, where London ranks high for human capital but there are still skills gaps and mass youth unemployment, with an underinvestment in training.”

Business leaders argue that this paradox could be mitigated if City Hall took a more aggressive role in organizing targeted corporate training pipelines. As reported by Kumail Jaffer of MyLondon, Matthew Fell further explained that “investors say that other parts of England, Mayors use their convening powers to play an active role to align things to set the groundwork for investment.” The implication is that international capital is increasingly favoring regions where the political leadership actively prepares the local labor market for incoming corporate investments.

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How does the Greater London Authority structure differ from other combined authorities?

In defense of the Mayor of London, regional policy experts point out that the unique constitutional architecture of the Greater London Authority introduces distinct administrative frictions that are not present in the newer Combined Authorities of the Midlands and Northern England. These structural differences frequently limit the Mayor’s ability to seamlessly integrate local borough policies.

As reported by Kumail Jaffer of MyLondon, Majeed Neky from the West London Alliance explained that Sir Sadiq Khan operates at a structural disadvantage compared to his regional counterparts. As reported by Kumail Jaffer of MyLondon, Majeed Neky stated that

“London is often lumped together with other strategic Mayoral authorities – but we do not have powers that Combined Authorities have in terms of connecting with local authorities.”

Neky argued that public perception often misinterprets the true scope of the GLA’s institutional reach, concluding that “as we look at what more we can do with devolution, we need to change that perception.” This perspective suggests that while northern mayors can directly integrate local authority systems into their combined frameworks, the London Mayor must navigate an intricate, highly independent network of 32 distinct borough councils and the City of London Corporation, each possessing preserved autonomy over localized public services and planning.

How has Sadiq Khan defended his administration’s record on growth and skills?

Despite the sharp criticisms raised at the APPG inquiry, the Mayor of London and his close allies maintain that City Hall has been consistently proactive in deploying creative strategies to stimulate the capital’s economy. The mayoral team points to several large-scale initiatives designed specifically to address the skills gap and foster equitable employment across the city’s diverse communities.

According to official statements published by London Councils, Sadiq Khan and Cllr Claire Holland, Chair of London Councils, recently marked the first anniversary of the London Growth Plan by highlighting substantial economic progress. The joint statement detailed that the plan, launched alongside business leaders and universities, aims to create 150,000 high-quality jobs by 2028 and inject £107 billion into the capital’s economy by 2035. As part of this comprehensive strategy, the Mayor announced a dedicated investment of £147.2 million to fund a localized “skills revolution” and established a specialized Future of Work Taskforce to identify evolving corporate needs.

Furthermore, as documented in an official report by the Greater London Authority, Khan has actively defended targeted training interventions such as the £27 million Skills Bootcamps programme. This initiative offers flexible, condensed training courses designed to fast-track adult Londoners into expanding sectors like digital technology, green industries, hospitality, and healthcare.

Defending his record on economic inclusion, Sadiq Khan stated that “my Skills Bootcamps will play an important role in helping fast-track Londoners into good jobs in sectors that are key to London’s long-term economic success. This additional funding will help even more Londoners to access free accessible training and gain the skills they need to succeed. This is even more important given the high cost of living.”

City Hall figures indicate that the programme has successfully engaged traditionally underrepresented demographics, with nearly three-quarters of recent participants coming from minoritised ethnic backgrounds, thereby directly addressing both systemic unemployment and corporate talent deficits.