News / Marvin Rees
Rees: ‘I feel closer to some Cenotaph counter-protesters than Colston 4’
Marvin Rees has said that choosing any regrets during his eight years as mayor of Bristol is “a difficult one”.
“Because it’s not as though there are any overt failures. It’s stages, it’s degrees of success that we’ve dealt with.”
In Rees’ last major speech as mayor, he was introduced by historian and broadcaster David Olusoga on stage at the Lantern Hall in the Bristol Beacon before outlining some of the successes of his two terms.
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On the seats of those gathered was a graphic of some of those successes from 2016 to 2024 including more than 14,500 new homes built in Bristol, 95,000 new trees planted, every library kept open, 30,000 experiences of work for kids, and a 19-000 seater arena approved.
Marvin Rees spoke to David Olusoga after his final speech as mayor – photo: Martin Booth
Rees took familiar pot shots at his predecessor George Ferguson (“When I came in, the political debate was dominated by car parking and fun Sundays”), and at his critics within the council chamber, in the mainstream media and on social media.
He also praised some members of the Society of Merchant Venturers and some of the protesters who gathered to “protect” the Cenotaph after the statue of Colston was toppled.
At the end of a story about being chased by racists while a teenager in the 1980s, Rees said: “I will share that my experience of the city through race and class, through that prism, has left me with a number of interesting reflections.
“One is a sense of belief of the authenticity of some members of the Merchant Venturers that is greater than that I have seen in some of the noisiest anti-racist and social justice activists in the city.
“And it’s left me with a feeling, a greater sense of connection, with some of the Cenotaph counter-protesters than I did with the Colston Four.”
Rees said that when he won the mayoral election at the second time of asking in 2016, “it took five or six months before I was comfortable to introduce myself as the mayor”.
“Being the mayor has been like putting on a suit jacket that was too big, only for one day to wake up and realise you have grown into it.”
So what might he do when he leaves City Hall?
Rees said: “I have said quite often that being mayor wasn’t the end, being mayor is another manifestation of what I’ve wanted to do which is to try to make the world better.
“And escape poverty by the way. I’m not shy about that. I was on radio once and they said, ‘you’re just trying to make sure you’re alright when you leave office’ and I said, of course I am! Do you think I want to be poor? I’ve been poor. It’s not good.
“So I want to take care of friends and family and I want to continue to do stuff that matters.
“It is going to be in the area of cities, in city finance and decarbonisation and housing and city design, and we’ll see what channel that is, whether it will be political or otherwise.”
Watch Rees’ final State of the City address in full:
Main photo: Martin Booth
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