99 per cent of London is not burning. We should not over-react to the weekend’s riots

Saturday and Sunday saw large scale rioting in Tottenham as well as in other parts of the capital. Tony Travers argues that while these riots have been damaging in specific areas, if things remain calm, there is no need for over-reaction, or even for senior politicians to return from their summer holidays. It is for the Metropolitan police to deal with, and they must now tread very carefully and ensure they communicate very openly and closely with local communities

London’s choice of mayor will give a tantalising hint of which party will be favourites to win the next general election

Kicking off our London Mayoral Election 2012 coverage, Tony Travers looks at the state of the race for City Hall. As the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats offer up ‘repeat’ candidates, he wonders what this election might tell us about the state of the parties and their prospects for the next general election

The Greater Manchester Agreement is only a small step towards greater devolution in England

Tony TraversThis week, George Osborne announced an agreement to devolve powers to the Greater Manchester area. Tony Travers reviews the agreement and finds that, while any devolution in a country as centralised as England is to be encouraged, the deal is modest and conditional in nature and suggestive of a long, laborious road to further devolution in England

The debate over Labour’s mansion tax reflects an increasingly federal political landscape

When Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy observed last week that Scotland could fund 1000 additional nurses with its share of the British Labour Party’s mansion tax, Scottish Labour stressed that 95 per cent of the new revenue would come from the South East of England. In this post, Tony Travers discusses the implications of Labour’s internal division over the mansion tax, and argues that this is merely one manifestation of a new proto-federal British electoral landscape

What do local election results tell us about parties’ prospects in 2015?

In this post, Tony Travers uses historical data from local elections to analyse the chances of a Labour party victory in 2015. Mirroring the general message from most current forecasting models, he finds that Labour are some way off the level that has been historically necessary for opposition parties to replace the government in UK elections

The shock is visceral, the future uncertain. Deep-seated grievances lie behind this vote

The reaction to last week’s vote has been visceral, writes Tony Travers. Enormous uncertainty lies ahead. Both of the main parties are in turmoil as they confront the biggest upheaval in British politics since 1945. He explores the different reasons why people voted to leave, and asks whether the systemic problems they reveal can be solved by leaving the EU. If not, how will politicians stem the anger and frustration of Leave voters

London – The election in the capital

Throughout the short campaign, this blog will be publishing a series of posts that focus on each of the electoral regions in the UK. In this post, Tony Travers discusses the key things to look out for in London

London: planning the ungovernable city

This paper relates the processes of strategic planning in London during the first decade of an executive Mayoral system to Doug Yates’ thesis about the ungovernability of major cities and London’s long history of conflict around metropolitan governance issues. Yates’ thesis only partially fits the London case because a separate lower tier of lower tier of borough authorities carries the main responsibilities for actual service provision. This London case, does, however, exemplify the proposition that without effective fiscal autonomy in planning for infrastructure provision, the need to manage diplomatic relations with higher levels of government (and other funders) can divert city strategies from those appropriate to the needs of the mass of their own constituents/businesses. In London as in other national capitals, this tension is intensified by a symbolic importance that inhibits central government from taking a detached stance in relation to priorities of the city administration. Examination of the experience of Mayoral Plans for London suggest that sheer complexity of relations and interdependences across a much extended, diverse and dynamic metropolitan region is also a major restraint on governability as far as strategic planning is concerned. An inability to face up to this complexity, particularly in relation to cross-border relations has – as much as the (diplomatic) obsession with the ‘global city’ priorities – so far proved a major obstacle to using Mayoral strategic planning as an effective means of steering change in the region, and addressing central issues affecting economic efficiency and residents’ quality of life

The LSE’s ‘Influential Academics’ project: How a number of the School’s personalities have contributed directly to political thought, government and policy-making

The LSE has a long history of influencing political thought and policy. The British Government at LSE has embarked on a project to showcase the numerous scholars, from Beatrice and Sidney Webb to Richard Layard, that have had an important impact on the state and society. In this article, Tony Travers provides an overview of the project’s purpose and progress

The LSE’s ‘Influential Academics’ project: How a number of the School’s personalities have contributed directly to political thought and policy-making

he LSE has a long history of influencing political thought and policy. The British Government at LSE has embarked on a project to showcase the numerous scholars, from Beatrice and Sidney Webb to Richard Layard, that have had an important impact on the state and society. In this article, Tony Travers provides an overview of the project’s purpose and progress