Redevelopment

Members of the public read plans to pedestrianise part of the square, February 2003.

In 2003 the redevelopment of the north side of the square was completed. The work involved demolishing part of the wall and building a wide set of stairs. This construction includes two Saxon scissor lifts for disabled access, public toilets, and a small café. Plans for a large staircase had long been discussed, even in original plans for the square. The new stairs lead to a large terrace or piazza in front of the National Gallery, in what was previously a road. Previously access between the square and the Gallery was via two busy crossings at the north east and north west corners of the square. The pedestrianisation plan was carried out in the face of protests from both road-users and pedestrians concerned that the diversion of traffic would lead to greater congestion elsewhere in London. However, this does not seem to have happened; the reduction in traffic due to the London congestion charge may be a factor.

Politics and Economy

Local government

The administration of London takes place in two tiers — a city-wide, strategic tier and a local tier. City-wide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), whilst local administration is carried out by 33 smaller districts.

The GLA is responsible for strategic planning, policing, the fire service, transport and economic development. It consists of two elected parts — the Mayor of London, who has executive powers, and the London Assembly, who scrutinise the Mayor's decisions and can accept or reject his budget proposals each year. The GLA is a recent organisation, having been set up in 2000 to replace the similar Greater London Council (GLC) which was abolished in 1986.

The current Mayor of London is Ken Livingstone, who is in his second term of office. He was elected in 2000 as an independent candidate and again in 2004 as a Labour candidate. Ken Livingstone was also the leader of the GLC when it was abolished.

The 33 local districts are the 32 London boroughs and the City of London. They are responsible for local services not overseen by the GLA, such as local planning, schools, social services, and refuse collection. The London boroughs each have a council which is elected every four years by local residents. The City of London does not have a conventional local authority, but is governed by the historic Corporation of London which is elected by both residents and businesses, and which has existed more or less unchanged since the Middle Ages.

The City of London also has its own police force: The City of London Police, which is independent of the Metropolitan Police Service which covers the rest of Greater London.

Health services in London are managed by the national government through the National Health Service, which is controlled and administered in London by five Strategic Health Authorities.

National government

London is the home of the Government of the United Kingdom which is located around the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Many government offices are located close to Parliament, particularly along Whitehall and including the Prime Minister's famous residence on Downing Street.

London is represented in the national Parliament by 74 Members of Parliament (MPs) who correspond to local parliamentary constituencies. For a list of London constituencies, see List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London. Of these 74 MPs, 44 are from the Labour Party, 21 are Conservatives, 8 are Liberal Democrats and one is from the RESPECT party.

Economy

London is a major centre for international business and commerce and is one of three "command centres" for the global economy (along with New York City and Tokyo).

As Europe's largest city economy, year-by-year, London's economy generates approximately 19% of the UK's GDP or US$418 billion in 2005; whilst the entire London metropolitan area generates approximately 30% of UK GDP or US$660 billion in 2005.

Due to the rapid decline in manufacturing industries following the second world war, London converted to a services industry relatively early compared to other European cities. London's relative success as a service industry and business centre can be attributed to a large array of factors: English becoming the new lingua franca, its former position as the capital of the British Empire, its close relationship with the US and various countries in Asia, English law being the most important and most used contract law in international business, the multi-cultural infrastructure (schools, worshipping places, cultural and social organisations), relatively low taxes, particularly for foreigners (non-UK domiciled residents do not get taxed on their foreign earnings), a business friendly environment (eg. in the City of London the local government is not elected by the resident population but instead by business - the City of London is a business democracy), good transport infrastructure, particularly its aviation industry and a deregulated economy with little intervention by the government.

Currently, over 85% of the active population of greater London works in the services industries, that equals to 3.2 million employees resident in Greater London who work in its services industries (i.e. without including the metropolitan area commuters). Another half million employees resident in Greater London work in manufacturing and construction, almost equally divided between both.

London has five major business districts: the City, Westminster, Canary Wharf and the less traditional but up-and-coming business districts of Camden & Islington and Lambeth & Southwark. To get an impression of their relative importance, a useful tool is to look at their office space. Greater London has 26,721,000 sq m of office space (2001).

London's dominating industry remains finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the UK's balance of payments.[11] The City is the largest financial and business centre in Europe, home to banks, brokers, insurers and legal and accounting firms. A second, smaller financial district is developing at Canary Wharf to the east which includes the global headquarters of HSBC, Reuters, Barclays and many of the largest law firms in the world. London handled 31% of global currency transactions in 2005 — an average daily turnover of US$753 billion — with more US dollars traded in London than New York, and more Euros traded there than every other city in Europe combined.

London is host to many company headquarters. More than half of the UK's top 100 listed companies (the FTSE 100) and over 100 of Europe's 500 largest companies are headquartered in central London. Over 70% of the FTSE 100 are located within London's metropolitan area, and 75% of Fortune 500 companies have offices in London.

Along with professional services, media companies are concentrated in London (see Media in London) and the media distribution industry is London's second most competitive sector. The BBC is a key employer, and other broadcasters also have headquarters around the city. Many national newspapers are edited in London, having traditionally been associated with Fleet Street in the City, but they are now primarily based around Canary Wharf. Soho is the centre of London's post-production industry.

Tourism is one of London's other prime industries and employed the equivalent of 350,000 full-time workers in London in 2003, whilst annual expenditure by tourists is around £15bn. London is a popular destination for tourists, attracting 27 m overnight-stay visitors every year, second only to Paris.

From once being the largest port in the world, the Port of London is now only the third-largest in the United Kingdom, handling 50 million tonnes of cargo each year. Most of this actually passes through Tilbury, outside the boundary of Greater London.