29/03/2017 London News

And for a majority of Londoners who hoped there might just be

a slight chance that Brexit won't actually happen...

But what about the City of London which said back in June

that there could be a mass exodus of jobs and banks?

That hasn't actually happened, and so Karl Mercer has been finding

out if that means the City has changed opinion on Brexit,

or if it's just showing a stiff upper lip.

The ancient body that runs a City of London has

a motto, it translates as, "Lord, guide us".

The local church perhaps not going that far today,

but at least offering a little comfort for those

Because these were the headlines the day after last June's

referendum, when the vote to Leave seemed to catch

So this is the aftermath of the June Brexit vote.

Since then the pound has stabilised, but concerns with some

Worries about London losing business and jobs to other cities persist,

but this market watcher believes the city will be able to cope.

This scale of the changes that are going to be implemented over

the course of the next few years are going to be gradual,

as opposed to the systemic shock that we got in 2008.

We do know that some City firms have already said they may move some

staff out of London to other European cities.

HSBC have confirmed 1000 jobs, JP Morgan reported up to 4000,

UBS reported up to 1500 jobs and Morgan Stanley around 1000.

The man who heads up the City of London Corporation admits

further jobs could go, but how many?

From sort of 2000, if we kept the existing level of access

to the EU, up to perhaps 75,000 if we didn't.

That's a pretty hefty range, and it rather indicates

that the nature of the Brexit is rather more important

It may mean, of course, that the UK has to look to other

markets in the future, but London has faced plenty

It still has a truly global reputation and pull and has proved

The rest of Europe has been eyeing our financial

services very enviously, and so they are going to try

and target ways in which they might be able to take a slice of our pie.

In my judgment, I think that's going to be a fairly small slice,

so I think London will be quite resilient.

But that's going to be an important feature of these negotiations.

The truth is that those working in the City,

like the rest of us, don't know for sure

The full impact of Brexit won't be known for years.

So, on this the day the first formal step was taken

for Britain to leave the EU, developments are continuing

to happen this evening which will shape the way London

We can go to Louisa Preston, who's following what's going on.

Yes, as we have heard, there is talk that some of the banks will move

stuff out of the City here in London and relocating Europe. But it has

actually been reported tonight that Lloyd's of London will create a new

office in Europe, officers in Brussels and about 100 staff are

expected to move from London over to Brussels. We are not sure when that

will happen and a statement is Jude tomorrow. I have spoken to

businessmen and Leave campaigner John Mills earlier this evening, he

said the City needs to look further field. -- Luffield.

The City doesn't really depend terribly heavily

on revenue and income from the European Union anyway.

And I think very little of that, really, is at risk.

And I think the big opposition, the big competition that the City

has, actually, is from Singapore and Hong Kong and New York

and Shanghai, not from Paris and Frankfurt.

We must not forget that London is really seen as the main player when

it comes to financial services. The question is tonight, how long will

it keep that top spot? Of course, the main focus is on the City behind

me, arm the banks there, but what about the millions of small and

medium-sized businesses across the capital? Sarah Harris has been

finding out how they will fire. Three men, all born in different

European countries, have set up businesses on the same industrial

estate in South East London. When it comes to their views

on Article 50 being triggered He may have been born

in Cyprus but John considers He sells his products all over

the world and says he was offended when Leave voters like him were told

they didn't understand the issues. The people that don't understand

are the people that voted They're the people that don't

understand what it is to be independent, free, world markets

that are there waiting for you - you - to get out off your backside

and get out and find it. In the unit opposite John's

is Stefano, an Italian businessman His company employs staff

from the EU, using expertise to deliver control panels to be used

in schools and hospitals. I am more worried

for the short-term. Surely there will the trade

agreements that I'm hoping that the Government will establish,

will eventually benefit the economy and with a domino effect,

will affect our business. Next door on Forest Hill Industrial

Estate is Ingo, born in Germany, he's been in London for 20 years,

with his specialist company Worst-case scenario,

that I won't be able Can't really see that

happening, but that would be And our product, our main product,

which is made in France, will become more expensive

and our profit margins shrinking. There's a question over

whether a community of European entrepreneurs could come together

like this post Brexit. For now, though, they'll go forward

with varying degrees of optimism. Well, tonight the Mayor of London

is back after a brief trip to Europe when he tried to convince EU leaders

that London is and will continue to be the place to invest

and do business with. It's no secret Sadiq Khan didn't

want Britain to leave the EU - and earlier on his train journey

back to London from Paris he went as far as to admit

to our political editor, Tim Donovan, that he was actually

heartbroken at the process The British public have

voted to leave the EU. My job as the mayor is to work

closely with the Government where I can, constructively,

to make sure we get But, if it's the case I think that

they're not acting in London's best interest then I won't be afraid

to speak out. This key issue of immigration,

what does a good deal now look like in terms

of immigration for London? One of the things I've been

stressing to the Government is, though, London is not the same

as the country. I accept certain parts

of the country voted to leave the EU because of

anxieties around immigration. Whether or not they need it

or not is different. I understand certain parts

of the country don't want it. You say you want it,

we've been getting 30,000 odd East Europeans in every year over

the last ten years, do you want to see that

figure go up or go down? I want to make sure we can meet

the needs of London. That means, obviously,

skilling up Londoners to have these skills for the jobs that we create

in construction or tech and financial services but also

recognising that one of the reasons why we are the greatest

city in the world is our Sadiq Khan speaking to Tim Donovan

earlier. Well, when it came to the EU

referendum in June, on balance That wasn't the case

across the board, with strong views So, nine months on, we went back

to see if an area which voted And if locals in a remain area

still felt the same. I think people have just become more

and more frustrated with the fact that it's going to happen,

and we don't know exactly what's going to happen,

we don't know how it's I done it for my children,

I done it for their future. You know, it's going

to be hard work. Other news now, and a man has died

after being attacked The Staffordshire bull terrier

turned on 41-year-old Mario Perivoitos while a BBC film

crew was with him. The dog isn't included under

the Dangerous Dogs Act. It's currently being

held in secure kennels. The family of Mark Duggan,

whose fatal shooting in Tottenham by police sparked the London riots

in 2011, have lost a challenge over an inquest jury's conclusion

that he was lawfully killed. Mark Duggan's mother,

Pamela, had asked the Court of Appeal to make an order

quashing the verdict. On the day that hundreds of people

gathered on Westminster Bridge to remember the victims of last

week's terrorist attack, the Metropolitan Police's Acting

Commissioner cautioned against rushing to change policing

in and around Parliament. Craig Mackey said more security

checks could create more queues at Parliament -

and could increase That's it for now from me, but let's

find out what the weather's up Getting better, not looking too bad?

It is spot-on, we had quite a lot of cloud today. Tomorrow it gets much

better, more sunshine to go around, it will be the warmest day of the

year so far. Overnight tonight, lots of cloud. With the cloudy skies it

will stay mild, temperatures around 11 degrees, and then tomorrow we

start off with the cloud, it should thin and break with sunshine coming

through, keeping the sunny skies for the most part of the day, but it

will never be June clear. There will be patches of cloud making it hazy,

but a decent day. Temperatures, they should reach 2122 in the warmest

spot, the warmest day of the year so far. The outlook for the next few

days, temperatures coming down a bit but staying decent for this time of

year. Here is Darren Bett with the national weather.

The warm air coming up on a southerly breeze all the way from

Iberia and across France into England and Wales. To achieve the

high temperatures we need to get into some of this dryer air and

sunshine. Even with the cloud today, 17 degrees. Not just about the

temperatures, let's not forget there is some rain around as well. Quite

wet in Pembrokeshire for much of the day. More rain overnight tonight,

some rain and drizzle in northern and western areas. Wetter weather

moving northwards across Scotland. Some rain in the south-west,

shuffling towards the Midlands. Overnight, a lot of cloud around. It

is going to be very mild indeed for the time of year, 11-12 in many

parts of the country. This is an sunshine beginning to creep into