City Talks: post-election special with Tony Travers

In this month's post-election special, Andrew reflects on the surprising results with Tony Travers, Director at LSE, considering the changing loyalties of the electorate, what a hung parliament will mean for the new mayors and whether we will start to see a cross-party approach to Brexit.

They also discuss how the electorate has strayed from traditional party loyalties, voting instead to rage against the machine, or as a tool to deliver a message on Brexit or austerity.

The outcome of the General Election leaves Westminster considerably weaker than before. With the DUP set to seal a deal with the government and the Scottish Conservatives winning 13 seats, Northern Ireland and Scotland are in a strong position to make demands, likely to be at the expense of massive progress made in cities over the last two parliaments. But they discuss how the new mayors are in a unique position to drive the country forward and negotiate for their respective cities.

Finally, with austerity now in its eighth year with no sign of an end, they ask whether funding and financing could be handed down to a city level giving councils the freedom to set taxes locally.