Missed the webinar? No worries, you can catch up on the discussion on our YouTube channel:

About the event

The levelling up agenda creates both opportunities and challenges for city leaders across England: what is the role of our urban areas in reducing geographic inequality? How should they relate to the places around them? And what can they learn from each other? 

Centre for London fully supports the objective of levelling up and believes it should be a long-term national mission to reduce geographical inequalities across the country. However, we are concerned that the agenda could in fact lead, either by accident or intent, to London being levelled down – and this would cause problems for the whole country.    

On Tuesday 8 November, Centre for London partnered with CLES (Centre for Local Economic Strategies) and Centre for the New Midlands to host a panel discussion with city leaders from across England.

We explored:

• The challenges for each of their cities.
• How they are working with central government.
• What they think we can do better to make levelling up a reality for the whole country. 

This one-hour webinar took place on Zoom. We recorded the discussion so you can watch back at your convenience.  

Panel

• Welcome from Chris Smith, Managing Director, Centre for New Midlands
• CHAIR: Claire Harding, Research Director, Centre for London
• Sarah Longlands, Chief Executive, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)
• Councillor John Merry, Deputy City Mayor for Salford and Chair of Key Cities
• Councillor Anthony Okereke, Leader of the Council, Royal Borough of Greenwich

This is a joint event held by Centre for London, the Centre for the New Midlands, and CLES. It is part of Centre for London’s yearlong levelling up programme.