Sadiq Khan will today warn that some new communities in London are becoming “increasingly segregated” as rapid immigration transforms parts of the city “beyond all recognition”.
The Mayor will also say the growing gap between rich and poor was leaving some white working-class areas feeling “left behind”.
Mr Khan tackled concerns over immigration head-on in a major speech he was due to make tonight on his trip to the United States.
He will tell an audience in Chicago that London remained a “beacon of tolerance, cohesion and integration” but warn about the pressure of a booming population, saying: “The number of immigrants arriving in Britain every year has doubled between 1997 and 2015.
“And these new communities — coming to work and contribute to our economy — have become increasingly concentrated and in some instances increasingly segregated,” saying that “some communities have been transformed beyond all recognition”.
Mr Khan will also speak of the impact of growing inequality, which he said was leaving “particular groups understandably feeling left behind — like white working-class communities in some parts of London and across the US”.
“These growing tensions make it harder for people from different backgrounds to walk a mile in one another’s shoes,” he added.
Mr Khan will warn a “hands-off” approach to integration would lead to higher unemployment, greater fear of crime and a massive economic cost —and that London needed “rules and institutions” to make sure that communities came together.
He said there must be “a shared set of common values and laws” around which communities could unite. These would be overseen by his new deputy mayor for social integration, Matthew Ryder, who is one of the country’s leading QCs and a judge.
City Hall insiders said measures could include more English lessons for public sector staff, including in the NHS and Transport for London, to make sure they have a common language.
There could also be more shared community spaces in new developments and a ban on “poor doors” — separate entries for affordable housing tenants in luxury blocks.
“We need to be totally honest. We’re not perfect and the equilibrium we have by and large struck remains fragile,” Mr Khan told a global affairs conference, hosted by Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“Our levels of social integration are not keeping pace with our changing population and growing diversity.”
Mr Khan warns that a failure to lead fully interconnected lives had eventually led to terror attacks on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Brexit vote. “It all leads back to integration,” he said.
Research shows that the failure to socially integrate cost the UK economy £6 billion each year in lost employment opportunities and poor health.
Mr Khan also stepped up his attack on Donald Trump just 24 hours after he told the Standard it was time for the US Republican presidential candidate to “build bridges not walls”.
It follows a row between the two men after the Mayor’s election victory in May over the billionaire businessman’s plans to ban Muslims from the United States.
“It’s not for me to get involved in a presidential election in another country,” Mr Khan said, before breaking diplomatic protocol and doing just that.
Aides said he felt compelled to speak out because of his fears that a Trump White House would be a disaster for social integration not just in America, but around the world.
“We play straight into the hands of those who seek to divide us — of extremists and terrorists around the world — when we imply that it’s not possible to hold Western values dear and to be a Muslim,” he will tell his audience.
“It only makes it harder to build integrated and cohesive communities. And it makes it easier for terrorists to radicalise our young people, making us less safe, whether in the US, France or Britain.”
Earlier in the day, Mr Khan appeared in Montreal alongside Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to discuss social integration, economic growth and climate change.
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