Dermot Finch's speech to the Core Cities Summit 2009

Date: 03/11/2009
End Date: 04/11/2009

Dermot Finch outlined five major challenges for England's major cities and called for the next Government to set up another Urban Task Force in his speech to the 2009 Core Cities Summit in Liverpool on the 3rd November:

Thanks for the opportunity to address the Core Cities Summit.

In a moment, I'm going to highlight five big issues for the Core Cities. I'll point out the things that you all agree on - and some more difficult questions that you should now try to answer.

After that, Rory Bremner will do his stuff. Rory's never done any of the Core City leaders. I reckon he would, if you all became big city mayors.

I spotted Rory almost exactly a year ago, on a train from Edinburgh to London. Barack Obama had just been elected. Rory had just spent eight years doing a very convincing George Bush. He did look a bit worried, probably trying to work out how he would do Barack. Hopefully we'll hear it tonight.

Liverpool

I went to university here in Liverpool, over 20 years ago. Over the last 5 years, I've been running the Centre for Cities - helping cities like Liverpool improve their economic performance. Our work aims to be honest, practical and challenging. Last week, we published our latest report - on Liverpool's graduates. My colleague, Kieran Larkin, is here tonight and co-authored the report.

There was some good news in there, and some more difficult stuff.

The good news is that Liverpool has almost doubled the share of graduates in its workforce, over the last 15 years. More than 17,000 students graduate from the city's three universities each year. And graduate retention in the Liverpool city-region is higher than most of the other Core Cities.

Here's the difficult bit. Graduate unemployment is on the increase. Graduates are going to find it harder to get a job in the public sector. So Liverpool needs to generate more private sector graduate jobs. Liverpool One and Capital of Culture have been a real boost. But more action is needed to attract and grow private sector employment here - and in all the other Core Cities.

Five challenges

So, here are my impressions of the Summit so far - and the big issues facing the Core Cities. I'm going to list five areas where you all agree - and five challenges. First, we all agree that cities are vital to our national economy. Together, the Core City regions are one-quarter of England's economy - and will help drive the UK out of recession.

Here's the challenge. Some cities are economically more important than others. Will Hutton said today that our largest cities have been the biggest drivers of growth, and should be front of the investment queue.

I'm sure that's right. But how should we respond to other cities that are not growing as much? And what should we do to address the disparities within our biggest cities? How do you link the growth of central business districts like Liverpool One, to more difficult areas like Speke?

Second, we all agree that the UK is one of the most centralised countries in the developed world. Our cities need more financial powers, so they can more effectively support their own economies.

But which financial powers? Do you all agree that you should get hold of business rates? If so, what about equalisation? The business base here in Liverpool isn't as big or deep as in Manchester or Leeds. Does Warren Bradley want business rates as much as Richard Leese?

Do you want any more revenue-raising powers, like the LibDem proposal for a local income tax? Or do you just want more flexibility over existing budgets, and no more say in raising tax?

Third, we all know that the fiscal deficit is huge. Will Hutton said it was a "non-crisis". I'm not so sure. I think we can all agree that public spending cuts are coming - whether the deficit is £175 billion this year, or £160 billion. And we need to generate more private sector jobs.

But which cuts, and when? Are you ready to identify where cuts would do the least damage? Can we persuade Whitehall that devolution will help to deliver real savings? What do we think about tax increases? Given that the public sector is about to shrink, I'm surprised there aren't more ideas about how to grow the private sector.

Fourth, we all agree that cities should collaborate across boundaries. Functional economic areas are a good thing. City-regions are now much less controversial than they used to be.

But do you want your city-region to be permanent, statutory and binding? Greater Manchester is moving in that direction. Or do you want a looser, more voluntary arrangement? Should all the Core Cities move at the same pace, or some more quickly than others? Does Bristol mind if the Leeds city-region gets more powers, sooner?

Fifth, I think we all agree that a change of government is likely next year. That's been the background assumption at this Summit.

But I've not heard enough scenario planning for a change of government. About a year from now, RDAs might be on their way to wind-up. You might have a referendum coming in your city, on elected mayors. Within a week of a Tory government coming to power, regional spatial strategies could be abolished.

All good businesses would have some clear scenario plans in place. A Tory one, a Hung one, possibly a Labour one - even a LibDem one, if you like.

I would encourage you, whatever your political background, to discuss the implications of a post-RDA world, to debate how an elected mayor might work, and to figure out how you might take more control over planning.

Urban Task Force

Here's my final suggestion. Suggest to the next Government that they set up another Urban Task Force. Back in 1997, when Labour got in, they quickly set up the first Urban Task Force. That was a good move. It helped to put cities on the policy map, and signalled Labour's intention to revive cities.

The mistake was its excessive focus on design. Richard Rogers is a fine architect, but his Task Force didn't focus enough on jobs and the economy.

After next year's election, the next Government should set up another Urban Task Force - this time focused on growth and jobs. The eight Core City leaders should play a key part. And it should be led not by an architect, but by a leading business person.

The worst thing to do with a new Government is wait to be told what to do. The best thing is to engage with them, give them a vehicle for policy development, and influence them. A new Urban Task Force would do that for you.