Sadiq Khan needs to lead with ambitious ideas for London’s comeback

It is hard to disagree that London needs to be on its guard against the resurgence of Covid-19 as we confront a new spike in infections across the north of England. The Mayor duly reminds us that “we can slow the spread of this virus if we don’t take risks”, which is wise when it comes to wearing masks consistently, being sensible about distance in shops or, in my household, waging a doomed campaign to get teenagers to use separate towels.

But not all risks are avoidable or cost-free, which is where the balance of argument gets trickier. Collectively, the Mayor’s Covid response tends to add up to a list of things he thinks should not happen or be more constrained, rather than firming up a plan for things that London should actively try to keep doing to maintain its place as an innovative and resilient capital. And then shouting about that.

Where does the second wave of the virus leave the role of our civic leaders? It’s a question that the pandemic’s impacts have raised without a satisfactory answer so far. In essence, Sadiq Khan acts as a magnifier of public-health messages, interspersed with criticisms of the Government over failures in track and trace and calls for a longer furlough scheme. All of that is fine but mayors can have more impact over time if they put their weight behind a particular set of policies and solutions. On that, we are still waiting for the Khan offensive.

The 10pm bar and restaurant curfew is totemic of moves that cause London businesses acute difficulty and where the official stance has swithered. Today, leading restaurateurs, chefs, retailers and scientists joined forces to object to it. There is mounting evidence that the deadline is creating dangerous crowding on the streets of central London and on public transport, especially at the weekend. Khan was one of the main advocates of early closing but now deems it a mistake. Yet he has not provided alternative ideas for keeping restaurants and bars open safely later.

This is a question on which many livelihoods depend. We, as a city, could have more to contribute to preserving the service sector than berating the central Government and commenting on closing times. London should be a laboratory and accelerator for the best ideas to lead the Covid comeback. True, many cities are struggling to get the response right and the Government’s failure to set up citywide testing and tracing regimes has knocked London. But as we face a second wave of the virus, we need to look forward. And this is where the Mayor could lead.

Candour matters here, too. When the Mayor says “more needs to be done, and other measures may be necessary very soon”, I guess I am being told a second lockdown is coming in London, but that the information is being dribbled out to me, in a way feels infantilising. “Londoners aren’t stupid,” was his deft response to a premature attempt by the Government to prod people back to their offices. But neither are those whose businesses rely on London staying open safely, dim, when it comes to hearing that their leader, like Nicola Sturgeon, is more at ease with closing things down than seeking ways to help keep them open.

In fairness, I am also irritated by the eternally Bouncy One, in his leader’s speech at the Conservative conference, telling us to keep a stiff upper lip through the winter, having recently promised that things would return to normal by Christmas. But we have mayors to take a lead, not simply to wag a finger at Whitehall for the failures of ministers.

If we are, alas, heading to another curtailment of our lives, we will need a smarter way of dealing with the impacts on the capital — joined-up thinking with the boroughs on how more enterprises can be helped to survive or return. The places which will recover best from Covid will be those that thought ahead and were prepared to be agile. They will also be those that were prepared to factor in a degree of risk.

Our amiable helmsman in City Hall could act more dynamically as a convenor of solutions as well as purveyor of safety rules. Where is the ambitious task force representing the businesses, tech sector, cultural institutions, bars and restaurants that London will need to get back on its feet? Open up the conversation, Sadiq. The city which has endured fire and plagues will make its way through these trials. But it needs to start figuring out its balance of risks and rewards and being more open about the trade-offs. Communiqués alone won’t cure the capital’s Covid ills. Sadiq has yet to come up with the innovative ideas London needs. He must start now.

Anne McElvoy is Senior Editor at The Economist