Friday 08 October 2021 6:33 am

Pandemic recovery: London minister expects the capital to ‘be the last to bounce back’ – CityAM : CityAM

London’s post-pandemic recovery is expected to take longer than the rest of the country, due to the sheer scale of the capital.

Minister for London, Paul Scully has cautioned that while the city – a business and financial hub – would usually be one of the first areas to bounce back following a recession, this time around it is likely to be the last.

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“London tends to bounce back quickest after recessions,” he said. “This time, it’s going to be the last to bounce back; it’s three times the size of the next European city.”

The capital ground to a halt when the government imposed emergency coronavirus measures last year, which saw Londoners social lives, businesses and work severely impacted.

While London is home to some of the wealthiest parts of the UK, it also some of the poorest, with levels of poverty that have increased over the course of the pandemic.

Food banks in the capital distributed more than 210,000 food packages in the six months to September 2020 – a 128 per cent rise in comparison with the same period the year before, according to Trust for London’s latest Poverty Profile report.

While more than 1.54m working-age Londoners were claiming benefits in August 2020, a rise of 44 per cent compared to August 2019. The report added that in the August prior to the pandemic, 19,395 people were subject to a cap on their benefits, which grew to 53,048 people a year later.

“If you go from Westminster, where all my colleagues clearly are, and you go on the Jubilee line: for every station towards the East End, you lose a year on your life expectancy – it’s that stark,” Scully added.

The minister noted that although London’s recovery may take longer, it should not be ‘pitted’ against the South East, an area that should also be on the receiving end of prime minister Boris Johnson’s levelling up agenda.

“It’s not ‘them or us’, it’s not pitting one region off against another – it’s working in partnership.

“London is a region as much as it’s a city, as well – you’re talking South East – and it shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. We shouldn’t be pitting people against each other, we should just understand structural issues which may end up with more investment.”