Sadiq Khan has revealed his three Budget demands for the capital after holding talks with the Prime Minister. The Mayor of London met with Andy Burnham on Thursday and said he is due to meet Chancellor John Healey ahead of the fiscal statement on October 28.
Lord Khan said he had laid out the three key things he believes the city needs to boost growth and protect services. He called for more cash for the Metropolitan Police and Transport for London as well as measures to boost house building and prevent homelessness.
Three Key Demands
“I have got three big asks and I’ve been quite frank to Andy Burnham and John Healey,” Lord Khan told the Standard on Friday. “We need more devolution to London, more powers and resources given to London.
“We also need support for our core services, whether it’s the police service, whether it’s Transport for London, whether it’s other services.
“And the third thing is we really need some support when it comes to housing.
“Andy Burnham has talked about his passion, which I share, to reduce and end rough sleeping so I’m hoping for some good announcements there as well.”
Housing and Homelessness
The Mayor suggested he was confident more resources to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in the capital would be announced. Nearly 13,000 people were seen sleeping on city’s street in 2025/26, Trust for London figures show. This is three times the number recorded 15 years ago.
An estimated 210,000 Londoners are homeless and living in temporary accommodation, according to data from London Councils.
“On housing I’m hoping for some detail in relation to how we are going to reduce rough sleeping,” Lord Khan said.
“I met with Andy recently on a visit to a great project in Kings Cross, the Single Homeless Project.
“I’m hoping we have next week details of more investment by this Christmas.
“We’ve got ideas of how we can invest that [money].
“We want to change the rules around verification and bedding down.
“We do a really good job once somebody’s sleeping rough on the streets, we have taken 20,000 people off the streets.
“Wouldn’t it be great if we stopped that getting on the streets in the first place.”
Devolution and Business Support
Lord Khan’s request for further devolution follows business chiefs calling on the Chancellor to hand the Mayor new financial powers to unshackle key transport projects.
Ahead of the Budget, they appealed to Mr Healey to allow City Hall to keep more of the huge sums in business rates raised in the capital.
They also argued that the Mayor should be given new powers to borrow against future revenue from transport and other schemes as it could kick-start funding for developments such as the Bakerloo line extension and West London Orbital.
John Dickie, chief executive at BusinessLDN, said: “The plans to rewire the state through greater devolution have great potential.
“They promise an improvement in delivery of public services and crucially give local leaders the ability to drive forward the infrastructure, housing and education that their communities and businesses need.
“Allowing more of the tax revenues raised locally to be retained locally will be key to enabling and incentivising decision-making that drives and unleashes growth.”
