A week ago, the latest of a long line of UK delegations beat a path to Brussels to meet with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator for Brexit.
Yet this group was different. We were the leaders of UK and European cities arguing for a greater role in Brexit negotiations.
Our cities are critical to the future of the UK. Real flows of economy, knowledge, skills and innovation are between cities and their institutions, not just nations. So it is astonishing that cities have not been part of the debate on Brexit, either here in the UK or the EU. Our visit sought to put that right.
It was the first time Barnier has met with a delegation of cities. Core Cities UK represents the 10 biggest cities outside London – Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield – and I was joined by a number of my fellow political leaders. Daniel Termont, the mayor of Ghent and president of Eurocities, a network of 200 major European cities, also attended.
In the UK, these 10 cities represent around 25% of the UK economy, 30% of UK trade and exports and 40% of university students. They’re at the centre of the largest economic areas in the UK outside London.
We did not go to Brussels to interfere with the Brexit negotiations of the UK government. Instead, we went to talk about how we can add value to the process, building on the city-to-city relationships we already have across the continent and beyond.
The big question, of course, is how these relationships will function after Brexit. Our proposals include a cities commission to oversee the transition to Brexit on issues that specifically affect cities, and the ability to participate in future joint programmes, where possible.
We also went to Brussels to represent the interests of our businesses, local jobs and economic future. And we wanted to pass on a strong message from our communities: people want more control locally and Brexit is an opportunity to pass power from Westminster to citizens.
Barnier was very open to our ideas, supportive and positive about the points we raised, and we agreed to meet again. We also met with Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s representative for Brexit, who agreed to hold an evidence hearing in the European parliament later this year, on the role of cities, within and beyond Brexit.
The direct relationship between cities within international networks are increasingly solving problems on the ground that nation states alone cannot tackle – covering more inclusive economic growth, climate change and social cohesion.
That is why it is vitally important that cities are front and centre of the Brexit debate, and why we will also be raising these issues vigorously with the UK government.
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Judith Blake is the chair of Core Cities UK and leader of Leeds city council.
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