Labour’s mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan has called for Whitehall to relinquish responsibility for London’s technology hub Tech City to the Mayor of London.
Visiting Tech City today, Khan, who is MP for Tooting, emphasised the prominence of London as the tech and digital capital of Europe and said the next goal is to put its science and tech sectors on a par with those of New York and San Francisco.
“London has made a great fist of carving out a leading position as a centre of tech but there’s much more to do to ensure we build on this success. As mayor, I won’t be satisfied just sustaining our position as the tech capital of Europe,” Khan said.
He went on to say that, if elected, he would work to protect the number of workspaces and start up locations for tech and creative companies across London.
Khan also pledged to make tackling the “chronic failure of superfast broadband” a top priority.
“It’s high time London took over more responsibility for Tech City from the tired control of Whitehall,” he added.
The MP’s visit to Tech City began with a tour of collaborative workspace Central Working City and a talk from Gerard Grech, CEO of Tech City UK.
Today, Khan also visited wireless technology pioneer Optimity and Sports Interactive, the creative studio behind the Football Manager series, before finishing his tour at web developer bootcamp Makers Academy, where he tweeted:
At the brilliant @makersacademy – where Londoners are trained up in coding and tech skills. pic.twitter.com/b9nMeEAgW6
— Sadiq Khan MP (@SadiqKhan) December 18, 2015
Image via Songquan Deng / Shutterstock.com