A principal justification for the introduction of the Mayor and GLA for London was that current governance arrangements were insufficient to meet the needs of sustaining and developing London's economic role as a major global city. This paper examines the challenges created by London's increased global integration and current economic growth to evaluate whether the changes in governance arrangements introduced from 2000 have produced any significant enhancement to London's ability to govern processes of economic development. The paper demonstrates that whilst improvements in strategy, vision and leadership have been important, ultimately the weak governance structures currently in place play a relatively marginal role in influencing the wider economic development process and meeting the challenges to future economic growth posed by social inequality and cohesion in a diverse and growing population.
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