London’s slowdown is the root cause of the UK’s weak productivity, according to research published on Thursday showing that the capital has lagged the rest of the country and similar global cities over the past 15 years.

In a report, the Centre for Cities think-tank said the value of output per hour worked in London since 2007 had trailed that of Paris, New York and Brussels, and argued more devolution by central government would help ease post-Brexit and post-coronavirus challenges that have hit output.

London’s weight in the national economy meant UK gross domestic product would have been ￡54bn higher in 2019 if its productivity had grown in line with that of Paris, New York, Brussels and Stockholm since the 2008-09 financial crisis, the think-tank said. Tax receipts, it added, would have been ￡17bn higher.