Rees lays down challenge to Bristol’s next leaders

Marvin Rees has laid down a challenge to the leaders who follow him into City Hall after Bristol’s experiment with the mayoral model comes to an end in May 2024.

In a sometimes intensely personal State of the City address, Rees thanked his wife Kirsten by name as well as paying tribute to his brother, Martin, who took his own life.

In previous years under both Rees and his predecessor George Ferguson, this annual speech has elicited several major announcements.

But not this year, as Bristol’s mayor looked back at some of the successes and challenges of his two terms in office as well as postulating to how the city should govern itself under the committee system.

“It is at moments of real delivery, in real lives, that the noise evaporates,” Rees said.

“This job is about making real change… Thank you for lending me the space and time and opportunity to be a part of the city’s change.”

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Read more: Marvin Rees’ State of the City speech 2023

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Rees said that “the challenge is for the committee designing the committee system, and the councillors who eventually sit in it, it becomes what the city – rather than the councillors – actually need”.

“We need serious, full-time leadership, engaged and working with the whole city. We need leadership that can drive investment and thrive in a competitive world.

“The specific challenge for the committee system is that they must not operate in a local political abstract.

“It is essential that it looks up and out at the city, rather than talk to itself. It is essential that the committee structure sees itself as city leaders and enablers, not as council managers, not as arbiters choosing between officers’ recommendations as a committee that votes yay or nay.

“The full measure of leadership is not a vote in a moment of time following an officer briefing, it is an ongoing relationship with all the moving parts.

“The council cannot just be a collection of services; it must be a leader of place. It must influence and be influenced by every aspect of Bristol life.

“The system must offer certainty as soon as possible. It needs to be clear on how it will work and what it will offer to the city and to public and private investors. It must be clear on what it wants to get done.

“It must offer engagement and participation – but not just for the sake of discussion at the expense of delivery. Engagement must be delivery-focused.”

Rees said that after May 2024, “with the absence of a Bristol mayor, the West of England Combined Authority and the metro mayor will become the high-profile political leadership of the city and the focus of attention and scrutiny”.

He said: “The metro mayor will take more power as a determinant of delivery for Bristol and will become the political face and voice on the national and international stage.

“There are some challenges for WECA: the voice of the city must remain strong in the Combined Authority and shouldn’t be diluted.

“This is not to say that the rural areas are less important. But it is to recognise the pivotal and unique role of the city in driving regional, national and international growth.

“The Combined Authority must take forward the scale of ambition for Bristol that the city deserves and the region and the country needs.

“WECA has to become an organisation that delivers big tangible outcomes for the city region. It must become our voice in Westminster and Whitehall, and on the global stage rather than the passporter of government funds to the region.

“We need WECA to lead with us and secure government investment in line with the region’s agreed priorities, rather than operating with the government’s limited ambitions.

“Take a lead from Barack Obama, who when asked about entering leadership, said: ‘Just learn how to get stuff done.’

“Third, the Combined Authority must be more connected to the public, improve accountability and transparency.

“As WECA increases in prominence and power of Bristol, it’s critical that Bristol voters and councillors have greater sight and purchase over the decisions that will be made.”

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• Marvin Rees’ autobiography, ‘My City’ to be published in June 2024
• Rees shortlisted for world’s best mayor award
• 10 Questions: Marvin Rees – ‘I’m Bristol’s most transparent person’

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