to think this London Independence talk is vile

[manicinsomniac]

... and really hope it's just frustration and not a serious campaign.

I've seen headlines saying 'the overwhelming majority of Londoners voted to remain' - er, no they didn't! 59.9% of Londoners voted to remain. That's well under two thirds. 49.5% of my area voted to remain. That's practically half.

Not a whole lot of difference to suddenly go deciding that London is some special realm of the enlightened that doesn't deserve to have to put up with the country's overall decision is it?!

Maybe it's just because I know a lot of people in London but there seems to be this sense of London being more intelligent than the rest of us and making the right decision while the rest of England sunk them.

There were millions of remain votes outside London and must have been over a million leave votes in London. 36 constituencies voted out by less than 2 percentage points. Only 28 constituencies had more than two thirds of voters wanting to leave. Only one voted to leave by over 75% (and that only just).

Most of England did not vote hugely differently to London. The areas turned a different colour on the map by virtue of a few percentage points in most case. Not the same thing at all.

AIBU to think people in London have no right to think they should be exempt from the results of this vote and aren't that different from the rest of us in their collective political outlook? And AIBU to assume this Independent London thing couldn't ever be taken seriously?

[darceybussell]

I hope not. My city voted to stay too. If they want to be independent then we do too!

[YouAreMySweetestDownfall]

I think it's just frustration. I'm in London and don't have any London friends or colleagues that voted leave. It's sad and frustrating for us as we've been lulled into a false sense of security by living in a city of generally like minded people.

[Kummerspeck]

It is pathetic. I can't wait for this hysteria to die down

[almondpudding]

It couldn't possibly happen.

[GuybrushThreepwoodMightyPirate]

I agree, this particular example of London arrogance is breathtaking. It really leaves a bad taste. My area voted remain, shall we be independent too?

[TheoriginalLEM]

i don't know what sadiq khan is thinking. reckon he left the lid off the evo stick

[nancy75]

When I read some of the stuff on here about how the rest of the country hates London & Londoners I wonder why you would want us to stay?

[whois]

Oh it's funny but it's not actually a real proposition.

There was a play on radio 4 a couple of years ago where London went independent. Ended up buying Wales for its water, and Kent for landfill space.

Worth a listen if you can find it on the Internet.

[sepa]

My area voted to stay, can we join the Londoners?

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

I can't see why it wouldn't work - London is easily big enough and rich enough to be a perfectly successful micro state. If other remaining cities wanted to seek independence they could too, although I suspect they would be too small to successfully function independently.

[manicinsomniac]

I think it's just frustration. I'm in London and don't have any London friends or colleagues that voted leave. It's sad and frustrating for us as we've been lulled into a false sense of security by living in a city of generally like minded people

I do understand. But I don't have any friends or colleagues who voted leave either. And I don't live in London. I was lulled into a false sense of security by the people around me. But the people aren't you aren't always (or even mainly) there by geography - it's more about a shared outlook and lifestyle than a shared town. Voting the same way as most of the people around you isn't a London thing.

[Twinkie1]

It'd take ages to get to work what with the passport controls needs at all the major stations in London.

[manicinsomniac]

nancy - I love London! I'd be there in a heartbeat if I could afford it. And I don't think anyone, however much they hate London, would want it out of England - I don't think we could cope without it.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine - Yes, it probably would work - for London! What about everyone else?!

Theoriginal - I don't think Khan has actually endorsed it, has he?

[almondpudding]

The more major difficulty would be removing the British Parliament and civil Service, the Bank of England, the BBC, the British Library, the art galleries, the museums etc etc out of London and into Britain.

I suppose at least all the empty buildings would give Londoners somewhere to live.

[LassWiTheDelicateAir]

It won't happen. It could work but it won't happen.

There's a thread about Scottish indyref2 along same lines. I was and am a no to independence.

I don't feel Scotland is different from England. I feel an empathy with voters in London, Cardiff, and most of Belfast;
Manchester ,Leeds ,Liverpool, Newcastle Oxford , Cambridge, Bath, Bristol, Exeter , Winchester and Brighton. And the more than 49% of voters in Sheffield, Birmingham and Canterbury.

Lots of cities of the UK agreed with you, it doesn't feel like 'us and you' where I'm living.

[SideOrderofChip]

It feels very arrogant of London to me. A 'Well we wanted you to vote this way and you haven't so we're going without you'.

But then i also feel that the leave votes from the rest of the country were a 'fuck you' to the 'im alright jack' persona from London (and the londoncentric media reporting etc)

(and no i didn't vote because i wasn't allowed to)

[AyeAmarok]

Oh that'd be interesting.

I'm sure the Londoners would love to have a big nuclear power station on the Thames, next to St Paul's. They'd need to clear about a square mile of land for it but I'm sure they won't mind.

Or maybe they can all use candles, and bean counters instead of computers

And they'd need to pay all their staff, from the cleaners to the wait staff a 6 figure salary so they can afford to live there. As no free movement of people means no cheaper workers from suburbia!

[OrangesandLemonsNow]

And people wonder why lots of people feel that London feels it is better than anywhere else.

[almondpudding]

Well London is better than many other places, being the capital.

But if it were no longer the capital, it would be a very different place. A financial centre is maybe what people would expect?

In many ways, it would be the perfect outcome for big business, to centralise all that economic power in one location, without all the inconvenience of being restrained by the nation state, environmental protections, agriculture and so on.

But it would no longer be a political or cultural centre.

[truevoice]

Yeah, well I'm a Londoner and hi OP, I was also puzzled (and just a tinsy bit furious) by this proclomation in the news! They didn't say "If London Votes to Leave then we will give them a special vote to Remain" LOL until they got the result they didn't want! It was seconded with that awful SNP Scottish leader drumming again, who again didn't protest about unfairness until she lost a democratic vote!!!!!!!!! Its truly sad to see Remain campaign being such sore and angry losers e.g. Linekar twittering he's "ashamed" of his "generation" (but not his constant shagging - well known in the media for years - and second divorce to "swimwear model" ) and a Labour Party Woman literally seething and foaming at the mouth at the result on Any Questions on BBC4 today. For myself, I voted Leave, but I would (truly and honestly) have accepted Remain with regret - understanding. But Remain lost it and showed their rather Nasty Side I personally think ... whilst trying to maintain the high moral ground. Beyond Bizarre.

[manicinsomniac]

I hadn't actually thought about all the British organisations and institutions that would have to leave London, or the cultural changes it would bring.

Even more reason why it's stupid then!

[JeanGenie23]

I live in Hackney, where 80% of the voters wanted to Remain. Everyone I speak to is crushed by this result, it's completely taken us by surprise. I think a knee jerk reaction (and joke) is where this started from, not a 'London arrogance'

You only have to be here 30 seconds to see how unbelievable being in the EU is for our country. I am still desperately sad about the result.

[truevoice]

Its totally London arrogance. We don't like the vote. We're so multicultural and advanced, we don't have to accept what we don't want to. I was shocked. Everyone was shocked. We don't as a consequence have to "refuse to accept" the result as a result. I am a Londoner. I have spent more than 30 seconds in London. I don't agree with you and your arrogant position. I am sorry you are sad, but I think you are probably just sorry you "lost".

[JeanGenie23]

You are wrong truevoice. More wrong then you would probably care to understand. This wasn't a game. This was a terrible move for our country. And actually the effects of which will unfold and be far worse than I think we can imagine.

[truevoice]

I am not wrong because you disagree with me JeanGenie, hallo! I just have a different view