The fireworks illuminate the horizon of London and Big Ben just after midnight on January 1, 2025.
Carl Court | Getty Images News | Getty images
London, the crown jewel of the national economy and culture of the United Kingdom, has taken some abuse lately, with great businesses that seek to expand in another place, workers who are looking for more affordable places to live and a flock of millionaires fleeing the city.
A new tax regime aimed at the state of “No Dom” of the Super Rich, based in London, led to an estimate of 10,000 millionaires to flee the city in 2024 in search of safer shelters for its cash. For those who do not have high costs, and a reevaluation after the pandemic of what makes the quality of life take many people to the work age to leave the city, according to the data, as it becomes prohibitively expensive to stay.
The pride of London as a business center has also been abolished in recent years, since local businesses have sought in other places to rely or expand, increasingly looking for me abroad or moving away their main list of the United Kingdom.
So, is everything fatality for the great smoke? Not necessarily.
While the streets may not be paved with gold, London still has an irresistible attraction for millions of people looking for work, study and play, with approximately 20 million tourists who visit the city in 2023.
CNBC asked several analysts based in the United Kingdom for their thoughts about whether the city is on a descending trajectory or simply experiencing some bumps along the way. This is what they had to say.
Declive city?
The London crown has been slipping “for years” when it comes to its commercial attraction and affordability for ordinary people, Bill Blain, market strategist, former investment banker and author of the Blain’s Blain’s Morning Bulletin, “he told CNBC.
He said that doing business in the capital “is no longer pleasant”, and the atmosphere in the rich city of London and Canary Wharf, the financial districts of the capital, is even worse.
“There is no buzz we used to have in the city, in Canary Wharf,” Blain said, lamenting “the speed with which London is becoming relevant.”
“Do you name me a single significant investment bank in the United Kingdom?
The workers cross a cross near the Bank of England in the city of London on April 8, 2025.
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“When it comes to banks, you have the Europeans, the French and the Germans, who are there right for the skin of their teeth. But there is nothing left for the United Kingdom that you go to the city today and take a look, and it is serious. It is terrible.
Blain blamed over-regulation for the disappearance of the city, believing that “the number of people who are involved in compliance and regulation and the form greatly filling the number that is in the first line of finance.”
Blain said he believes he lost his global reputation for having a relatively stable political establishment, with six prime ministers in the last 10 years, and that he was also tarnished following the tumultuous deviation of the European Union five years ago.
The protesters are protesting out of Parliament against Brexit on the fourth anniversary of the official departure of Great Britain of the European Union, in London, on January 31, 2024.
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After a victory in the landslide elections last year, the current Labor Government and the Minister of Finance, Rachel Reeves, are under greater pressure to adhere to the self -imposed rules on debt and loans, while trying to increase public spending and promote very necessary growth.
“In the past, you could look at the United Kingdom and say, yes, it is no longer the largest economy in the world, but it is generally stable in [terms of] Competition, to invest in it. But these things now begin to be questioned, and that is the great risk to the United Kingdom, “Blain said.
Not all pessimals
Barret Kupelian, chief economist of the United Kingdom in PWC was eager to point out that not everything is sad and fatality for the capital in the long term.
“If I focus on the foundations made by London, London, The first is the rule of law, and then you have all the intangibles as history, culture, diversity, talent, innovation, regulation, time zone, probity, infrastructure, etc. These things have not changed massively in recent years, “Kupelian told CNBC Wednesday.
“We see that London really has a quiet, stable and soft infrastructure, and companies are still here, great businesses that are in London, due to the quality of regulation,” he said. Kupelian defended the state of London as a financial services center, but said that he is also adapting and evolving.
“One of the things that is happening quite in the background is that our exports of goods are stagnant, partly due to the commercial environment in which we are at this time, the tariffs and what you have … but the exports of services are growing quite strongly and many of them are being driven by commercial services,” he said.
“We always think fs [financial services] It was the jewel of the crown in London, and it is, but in reality, in terms of growth rates, if you observe the side of the export of the main book, much is being driven by commercial services, “he said.
Canary Wharf seen from Greenwich Park, London.
Karl Hendon | Moment | Getty images
PWC, together with the demonstrations of pollsters, produces “annual” annual cities index that measures the economic well-being of British cities and looks beyond economic production, considering factors such as jobs, income, health, health, skills and work-life balance.
He found in 2024 that, although London was expected to see strong economic growth in 2025, he compared much less favorably with other British cities in terms of habitability factors. That includes the lack of affordable housing and the crispy transport infrastructure, as anyone in a hot, dirty and narrow central line tube on its morning trip to work will attest.
No London loves a tube train full of people in the peak hour. Here is the central line during a typical morning trip.
Nick Ansel – Pa images | Pa | Getty images
“This is the story in relation to the rest of the country, but what about the rest of the world?” Kupelian commented, noting that “there has always been an intense competition between the great metropolis of the world”, such as New York, Paris, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo.
“I think London feels that competition at a much more intense level now,” Kupelian said, and the city needs to look at its counterparts and in itself, with a more critical eye to see what could do better.
To prescribe “specific interventions” instead of a “complete reinvention,” said London is well located to continue attracting a workforce, companies and talented and talented growth.
“Companies are still here, large companies that are in London, due to the quality of regulation. I think that is one of the main appeals in London. [Policymakers should] Emphasize those points again and simply continue. I do not believe that there is something that would display the change that leads to fortune and success, but I think there are these smaller things that probably need adjustments instead of complete reinvention, that, London can do. “
