LONDONERS take more pride in their city than they do in either England or Britain, according to a new survey.


Popular on LondonNet


The poll by YouGov for next week’s London Policy Conference found that nearly 80% of Londoners were either “very” or “fairly” proud of London, while 74% felt the same about Britain and 68% about England.

“It’s no surprise to me that Londoners are intensely proud to be part of this great city,” London Mayor Boris Johnson told the Evening Standard.

“In fact it’s that pride in our capital which helps make London the best place on earth.”

The London Policy Conference aims to bring together big names from mainstream politics, the police, banking and charities to pontificate on policy issues facing the capital.

It may be telling that its ambition is to become the “Davos of London”. Davos is a town in Switzerland that hosts the World Economic Forum, an annual back-slapping get together for the super-rich and mega-powerful.

Nevertheless, for its first conference, the LPC could be the site of the first big debate in the run-up to next May’s mayoral election. Both Johnson and main rival Ken Livingstone are booked to speak.

It is unlikely that either Boris or Ken will advocate London declaring independence from the rest of the UK, but here’s a semi-serious look at what that momentous move would look like, knocked up by the BBC.