SOUTH YORKSHIRE’S MAYOR SPEAKS UP FOR UK MAYORS AT FIRST COUNCIL OF THE NATIONS AND REGIONS

Published 11 October 2024 at 3:14pm

South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard, has joined the Prime Minister, First Ministers and Deputy First Minister from the Devolved Governments and Mayors at the first Council of the Nations and Regions, in Edinburgh.

Focused on investment and growth, the Council fosters collaboration and will help to seize opportunities to secure long-term investment and boost growth. Today’s discussions were focused on how to boost growth and inward investment across the UK, including through an industrial strategy and through the upcoming International Investment Summit on Monday, which Mayor Coppard will also be attending.   

On behalf of UK Mayors, Mayor Coppard responded to the Prime Minister's opening remarks as the meeting opened, highlighting the need to bring investment, opportunity and growth to every corner of the country.

Speaking after the summit, Mayor Coppard said: “Today’s first meeting of the Council of the Nations and Regions is a clear example of how this Government is putting collaboration with Mayors and devolved institutions at the centre of plans to boost growth across the UK.

“I was pleased to respond to the Prime Minister on behalf of Mayors across the country, setting out both the challenges and opportunities we face in growing our economies.  As Mayors we know that too much of this country’s wealth and prosperity is concentrated in too few parts of it; we rely on too few people and too few places to create too little wealth. That is a huge waste of potential. A huge waste of talent. And a huge waste of opportunity.

“This costs us. The price we pay is fractured communities, pervasive economic, social and cultural divisions and huge costs to the economy. But the price we’re paying is neither inevitable, nor intractable. Together as Ministers and Mayors, we all have the chance and the responsibility to change this and bring investment, opportunity and growth to every corner of the country.

“The prize is enormous. A restoration of our broken politics, renewed confidence, pride and purpose in some of our fractured communities – not just fixed by growth – but underpinning its very foundations.”