Is London really France's 'sixth biggest city'?
There
are many French people living in London, but does it really have the
sixth highest number of any city? French media have been debating the
accuracy of this often-repeated claim.
Juppe told him, Johnson said, that he had the honour of representing 239,517 people in Bordeaux, the ninth biggest city in France.
"I got the ball back very firmly over the net, folks," said Johnson, "because I said there were 250,000 French men and women in London and therefore I was the mayor of the sixth biggest French city on earth."
Johnson wasn't the first to make this statement about the size of London's French contingent. It was aired in the French media when Nicolas Sarkozy visited London as French president in 2008 and has been repeated many times since, including by the BBC.
There is a political dimension to it, because it illustrates the idea that the UK's capital is booming, good for entrepreneurs and brimming with jobs.
Johnson says there are 250,000 French people in London. Other British estimates say 300,000-400,000. The figure that is quoted most often is 300,000 which is attributed to the French consulate in London.
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Eric Albert Le Monde"Like for like comparisons are pretty difficult because cities in Britain have fairly wide administrative limits”
When asked, the consulate said
this figure was for the whole of the UK, although most of those French
people would be in the capital.
But these ONS household surveys don't count everyone. For example students in halls of residence and people in care homes are left out.
The UK Census does count this, and the 2011 Census says there are 86,000 people in London who hold French passports.
So why are the numbers so different? The ONS is absolutely sure about its figure. But the French consulate says the real figure is much higher.
Xavier Chatel, press spokesman at the French consulate, concedes there is probably no "official" measure.
"This is Europe so people are free to come, free to go, there's no authoritarian obligation to register somewhere and therefore there is a certain degree of uncertainty about them."
But he says that using data from the UK's electoral commission, the Department of Work and Pensions, Census data and the consulate's own register of people they can come up with a reasonable estimate of 270,000 French people living in London.
South Kensington is home to the consulate, the French Institute and several Gallic eateries
The consulate defines London as the city plus "the south
eastern quadrant of the UK including Kent, Oxfordshire and maybe Sussex
too".This is quite a generous description of the London area - it includes Oxford, a city in its own right about 80 miles away from London. Kent and Sussex meanwhile, stretch right down to the English Channel.
But assuming the ONS number and the French consulate number are the best estimates, how do they measure up against the population of French cities?
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"Like for like comparisons are
pretty difficult because cities in Britain have fairly wide
administrative limits. Greater London is way bigger than Paris," says
Eric Albert of French newspaper Le Monde, which has been examining the
"sixth city" claim in recent days.
London's ranking, using the ONS figure and putting it on a list of these French urban areas, is so low that it doesn't appear in the top 60. Using the French consulate figure, of 270,000, London is only the 23rd biggest French city.
The figures themselves are only half the story - there's a wider political point made by some that France's taxes are too high, jobs too limited and opportunities for entrepreneurs are better elsewhere.
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"I came to London from Paris straight after graduating from art school, just to have a look," says Malika Favre. "That was seven years ago and I've no intention of going back."
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"I came to London from Paris straight after graduating from art school, just to have a look," says Malika Favre. "That was seven years ago and I've no intention of going back."
The unemployment rate is higher in France (9.8%) than in the UK (7.2%) but what about taxes?
"It's rubbish. Income tax is roughly the same," says Eric
Albert, who argues that parents would probably be better off in France
because the number of children you have determines how much income tax
you pay.He says the only exception may be for high earners but they would be more likely to go to Switzerland for a better deal.
But what about the numbers of people leaving France? In a recent article in the New York Times, it was claimed the number had risen 60% since 2000.
"When people talk about people leaving France they say there has been a big spike, which is true," says Liam Boogar who runs a blog about tech start-ups in France called Rude Baguette.
But he says this needs to be seen in context - and despite the increase, there are more British people living in other parts of Europe than French.
"The most recent EU figures put France at number five in Europe for percentage of citizens living outside of the country, with the UK first."
This, he believes, says less about a French exodus than it does about a Europe with a very mobile population.
Additional reporting by Charlotte McDonald
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