Industry grandees last night rejected fears that London post-Brexit had lost its competitive edge in the global cities race to attract capital.
“Frankfurt doesn’t have a soul,” said Gaw Capital’s Goodwin Gaw, rejecting claims that the City’s financial centre was at threat from other European cities.
“Everything works in Frankfurt. It has German efficiency, but it’s not colourful like London,” Gaw said at the Estates Gazette London Question Time at the Globe, SE1.
“I think politics would have to really screw up to take London down that far,” he added.
Savills executive director Stephen Down said he didn’t think London would see tens of thousands of people moving to Frankfurt or Paris or Dublin.
He said: “London is doing extremely well as a centre for all sorts of businesses. It’s not just banking and finance. It’s about the pharmaceutical industry, it’s about the tech industry.
“It’s got a hell of a lot going for it and it reinvents itself all the time, so I think it will still dominate every one of the major cities around the world.”
Victoria Quinlan, chief operating officer of Lendlease – Europe, said she could see some financial services firms taking a smaller HQ or moving some staff to Dublin or Frankfurt.
But she said: “I don’t think that will mean the market will fall apart here. I think there’s still enough resilience and growth across multiple sectors that London will be able to weather the storm.”
Political certainty was needed to ensure London’s continued success as a global financial centre, the panellists agreed. An audience vote found that 70% supported Theresa May as the next prime minister, with Boris Johnson the second favourite with just 16% of the vote.
Mills & Reeve’s Charles Staveley said finding a government quickly to lead the debate and activate Article 50 would provide some degree of certainty. How our future relationship with the EU was then negotiated would be important for giving confidence to occupiers and investors, he said.
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Click below to hear Claire Emes, chief innovation officer, Ipsos MORI, speech and see her slides from EG’s London Question Time.
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