London should leave the UK

We have always been the greatest, most prosperous hub for trade in the whole of Western Europe. Countless enemies have dared to invade us, all with the most unsuccessful results. Since Roman times, we have always resisted, preferring death to yield –always united against tyranny and oppression. We have survived Great Fires, Nazi bombings, terrorist attacks. And we never faltered. We had never surrendered our independence.

Sadly, at some point, we ceased to pay attention, and independence is not the case anymore. We are not as self-sustaining as we used to be.

The great City of London is ruled by a large bunch of bureaucrats in Westminster, in which only 11% of members of parliament represent London constituencies. Long gone are the days of the great old City of London. Our self governance is a myth, a childish, historical funfact. All the laws that come from Westminster, which clearly favor the rest of England and the UK much more than they favor us, are voted for by English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs, which are obviously not in line with the interests of ordinary Londoners.

How did London surrender its independence to the rest of the UK? It all started as a trade deal, in which our political decisions were ours to make, but there was a general agreement to cut tariffs between London and the UK. This then slowly started turning into our current unsustainable situation.

We started to allow free movement of people between the City of London and the UK. We somehow agreed to share some common principles. And England, suspicious of our independence, built Westminster close to the City to compete with us, filled it up with members of parliament from constituencies coming from the whole of the UK, and thus set the age of British dominance in London politics.

A great example of this problem is immigration: London has lost control of its borders. This imposed policy of open-door immigration with England has collapsed our city. We need to take back control of our borders. We want to decide who comes in, and whether we want immigrants from all over the UK to come to London to claim our council houses, collapse our transport system and steal our jobs. Why do we have to host, for example, so many northerners in London? Why can't we democratically decide how many should come in?

London needs to leave the UK. This should be crystal clear to anyone. A referendum should be celebrated as soon as physically possible. Some people argue that London is too small to be able to negotiate its own trade deals with the rest of the UK and the world. All those people should keep in mind that London has had no problem setting these deals since the middle ages. Hell, even since Roman times we have been able to make our own terms with respect to the world. The Queen still has to ask for permission to come into the City of London. Our greatness is still there. We have been admired and respected by countless empires. In this fast moving, complex world, we are still relevant enough to negotiate our own trade deals with the rest of the world.

Why should London, the most prosperous region in the UK, have to share this vast amount of wealth creation with the rest of the UK? How many millions of pounds are we sending to the UK every day? Why should we back infrastructure projects in the north of England? Why should we fund industrial production in Wales? Why shouldn't London keep its wealth and spend it in its own health service? The rest of the UK is an economic mess, and London should stay out of it completely – for its greater good.

We must take back our democracy. We must cease to be ruled by UK bureaucrats. We must finally take back control of our borders. A referendum must be held, and we should categorically, assertively and with the pride of an admirable, 2000 year old great city, must certainly vote Leave. The fight for freedom must go on until it is won, until our city is free, happy and worthy of all the Londoners who died defending it.

(PS, in my next article, I'll talk about Hammersmith introducing an Australian star-point system for immigration, so we can control our border with Fulham. Oh, and I also discuss the implications of Pluto voting to leave the Solar System and finally regaining its long-dreamed independence.)