'London could pay its way if it became independent after Brexit vote'

London could "pay its way" if it chose to become independent after the EU referendum, a leading expert said today.

Following a Brexit vote which the majority of London voters did not back, a petition has been set up calling for the capital to declare its independence.

And Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics said the difference in voting between London and the rest of the country raised profound questions about the capital's future.

He said: "London can certainly pay its own way. It pays far more in taxes that it has spent on it by governments at all levels so it can essentially pay for its own services.

"On the other hand, it does have a very long border with the rest of the UK.

"The border between London and the south east is almost as long as the border between England and Wales.

"Many people live in in areas outside and work in London. You couldn't have border controls or anything like that.

"It's more a matter of something akin to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, a much more effective form of devolution.

"It 's really like Scotland and Wales, and has far more control of its own budget."

But the professor said the idea of an actual city state would be "absurd" and that includes the notion that Scotland and the capital could somehow join together to stay in the EU.

Tantalisingly, Nicola Sturgeon said this mornng Scotland would look at all options available for remaining in the EU and hinted Sadiq Khan had a similar view.

But the professor said: "It's hard to see potentially how this could work. How could you have the free movement of people between London, Scotland and the EU?"

Prof Travers said a better solution would be giving London a "looser relationship with the UK" and more power to decide its own destiny, in a set-up similar to New York or Tokyo.

He said: "It would be very odd if England's politics make it harder for London to fulfill its own ambitions because people outside London wanted something different.

"London has to make decisions about itself that reflect its own needs.

"New York makes far more decisions about itself, it runs its money the way London does, but it runs some healthcare, it runs part of the court system. New York is very powerful.

"The financial freedom there is far greater in New York where they have much more power to raise taxation."