'One in five Londoners want the capital to become independent'

 
Independent future: One in five want the capital to break away, the survey found (Picture: Lucy Young)
Benedict Moore-Bridger11 September 2014

As Scotland prepares to vote on independence, Londoners have voiced their own desire to emulate the Vatican City and become a separate country.

A new survey suggests one in five people in the capital believe London would be better off if it were split from England, with 19.9 per cent of the 2,001 people surveyed agreeing it would be better off as its own country.

The survey by polling company Censuswide was commissioned by The View from The Shard, a tourist attraction at the top of the London skyscraper.

The sentiment was felt most strongly between 25-34 year olds, with nearly half of those asked saying yes.

The results were published in the Future View from The Shard report, which predicts that a third of people in Britain think London will be unrecognisable by 2030.

The findings also revealed 80 per cent of people in Britain want more green space and 60 per cent wanting more bicycles on the road instead of cars and nearly 80 per cent wanting Oxford Street to be pedestrianised.

With regards to day-to-day living, half of people in Britain think that wifi in London will become completely free and that we will all live in a cashless society.

And despite the announcement on Monday of a second Royal baby, more than 5 million people in the UK think there will be no Monarchy by 2030.

The same number - one in 10 of those asked - also believe that London will be waterlogged like Venice.

The results have been fed into the Shard’s website and make up part of their viewing galleries to create a futurescape - a futuristic view of what the capital might look like in 2030, taking into account approved planning applications in boroughs all over the capital.

  • The Scottish independence referendum debate has led to questioning over how much power and economic control should be devolved locally. To discuss whether this should, and could, be the case in the capital, Amol Rajan, editor of the Independent, is chairing a discussion on London Live tomorrow looking at whether London should have greater devolved powers. Professor Tony Travers, the director of LSE London, Jules Pipe, the chair of London Councils, and Alexandra Jones, the chief executive of the Centre for Cities are appearing on a special edition of Headline London tomorrow at 12.30pm.

Scottish independence referendum

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