Should the corporation be left as it is, fundamentally reformed, or abolished?
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services is keen to get your views on transparency, fairness, and democratic accountability within the City of London Corporation.
It focuses on a number of governance issues, including access to information, the role of the City Remembrancer, and the balance of representation between businesses and residents.
Your responses will help inform ongoing discussion about how the City of London Corporation operates and whether any changes may be needed to strengthen trust, accountability, and fairness.
Your contact details will not be published and will only be used for survey administration purposes.
Any published responses will be anonymised.
– The City of London Corporation Governance and Accountability Survey
more background on the survey
ON TRANSPARENCY
The CoLC is the City of London’s local authority. However, unlike other local authorities some of its activities are deemed to be private, not public. Its activities deemed to be private escape freedom of information laws. This enables the CoLC to keep information that would be of public interest secret. Examples include CoLC’s “City’s Cash” fund, which amongst other things is used to pay for lobbying.
ON DEMOCRACY
There is a democratic deficit at the heart of the City of London. In every other UK local authority, representation rests on a simple principle: one person, one vote. The City departs from this standard. Residents retain one vote each, but businesses are granted additional votes tied to workforce size, structurally diluting the voice of those who live there. The so-called business vote is not merely unequal; in democratic terms, it is effectively artificial because there is no requirement for employees to be consulted on how those votes are exercised. Representation is therefore being skewed in favour of business, at the expense of residents.
ON FAIRNESS
The City Remembrancer is an individual employed by the CoLC who acts as a lobbyist – one who operates outside our democratic framework yet enjoys privileged access inside Parliament. Routinely attending Parliamentary sessions with a team of lawyers in support on permanent standby, the Remembrancer scrutinises legislation for anything that might affect the financial sector, advising the CoLC on how to protect its interests whilst legislation is being drafted. No other sector enjoys anything like this opportunity to influence, giving the financial sector an unfair advantage.
more back ground on the APPG
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services is dedicated to advocating for the victims of financial misconduct, crimes, scandals, frauds and regulatory failures, by driving positive, progressive, and purposeful reforms that achieve a fair, trusted and just system, where the service providers, regulators and government agencies provide appropriate protection and deliver good outcomes, including redress for historical wrongs.
