The election of mayors for six new city-regions across England today – in Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, Cambridge & Peterborough and the West of England – is a major opportunity to address the policy vacuum on integration at the top of politics, according to a new report by British Future.
‘Integration: from national rhetoric to local reality, sets out the different integration challenges in each of the six new combined authorities and suggests integration priorities for the new mayor for each region.
The report states that getting integration right so we live well together matters to everyone in Britain. According to the report it’s an issue that forms part of the immigration anxieties that played out in the Brexit vote and that parties must respond to in the General Election.
Last week, local MPs, educationalists and civil society leaders in the West Midlands signed a joint letter to the Birmingham Post urging candidates to support the appointment of a deputy mayor for integration.
The proposal is supported by Professor Ted Cantle, leading authority on community cohesion and author of the ground-breaking ‘Cantle Report’ after the 2001 race riots in northern England.