伦敦同时遭到左右两派抨击：一项为《经济学人》进行的民调显示，只有17%的英国人认为“伦敦更富”会让英国更好。与“犯罪失控”的叙事相反，伦敦多年来暴力犯罪持续下降，凶杀率降至可比记录以来最低；在迈阿密，居民被杀的概率几乎是伦敦的6倍。

与“伦敦繁荣吸血全国”的说法相反，伦敦自金融危机与脱欧后增长乏力：当地人均工人产出按实际价格计算低于2008年水平。2007—2019年全国生产率增速放缓中，有42%可归因于伦敦生产率增长的流失；伦敦仍贡献全国四分之一的产出，并在增长时通过更多税收与需求外溢补贴其他地区，其竞争对手是纽约与东京而非曼彻斯特与利兹。

伦敦依然是全球第二大金融中心（仅次于纽约），其独角兽（估值10亿美元以上的初创）数量为欧洲最多，且有4所全球前十大学位于其影响圈内。为保持“人才磁铁”，政策需要逆转收紧趋势——工签与定居规则拟将毕业生签证期限缩短、默认取得永久居留时间翻倍至10年，且签证费用与附加收费可超过1万英镑（13,800美元）——并通过更易建房与下放市长更多举债、加税权力来支撑住房与交通等基础设施更新。

London is bashed from both right and left: an Economist poll finds only 17% of Britons think Britain would be better off if London were richer. Yet against claims of “no-go” areas and collapsing order, violent crime has been falling for years and the homicide rate is the lowest since comparable records began; Miami residents are almost six times more likely to be killed.

Rather than endlessly prospering, London has struggled since the financial crash and Brexit: output per worker is lower in real terms than in 2008. London’s lost productivity growth accounted for 42% of the nationwide slowdown in 2007–19; it still produces a quarter of national output and, when it grows, pays more taxes and generates demand that supports the rest of the country, while competing globally with New York and Tokyo.

London remains the world’s second-largest financial centre (after New York), creates more $1bn-plus unicorns than anywhere else in Europe, and has four of the world’s top-ten universities in its orbit. To stay a magnet, policy should reverse tightening—plans would shorten graduate visas, double the default path to settlement to 10 years, and keep visa fees and charges that can exceed £10,000 ($13,800)—and pair a much easier build-out of housing with devolved borrowing and tax-raising powers to renew transport and other infrastructure.

Source: Haters on the right and left are wrong about Londo

Subtitle: It’s a hub, not a hellhole. Labour should give it more love

Dateline: 1月 29, 2026 05:47 上午