Report relegates Brum to UK's third city

Oct 10 2007 By Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM has dropped from a top 20 list of European 'cities to do business with' - to be replaced by bitter rival Manchester.

The second city lost its place in the influential and much-quoted Cushman and Wakefield European Cities Monitor.

It fell two places to 21st in the premier league, while Manchester rose three places to 18th.

On the UK list, Manchester was top of five categories, London top in eight and Birmingham was top only for external transport links - helped by its central location.

In a question to council leader Mike Whitby, opposition members accused his ruling Tory-Lib Dem coalition of failing in its aim of promoting Birmingham as a centre for business.

Coun Peter Kane (Lab, Kingstanding) said: "Councillor Whitby made much of the position of Birmingham in Cushman and Wakefield's Cities Monitor as second to London.

"Over the last 12 months, Manchester has pushed Birmingham back in such comparitors as quality of life, shopping and hotels.

"A sad and damning indictment of this administration, some might say. Will the leader be seeking a different source to quote from when seeking to extol the virtues of this city to investors?"

But Coun Whitby hit back accusing the Labour councillor of trying to denigrate Birmingham and described the Cities Monitor as a "subjective report" based on the votes of senior business executives.

He said: "Birmingham's result in the report needs to be taken in the correct context."

He said that Birmingham had risen from fourth to first on external transport links, despite there being no major changes to the infrastructure.

"The facts now show Birmingham's performance at attracting investment is second only to London," he said.

"Birmingham's GDP easily outstrips every other city in the UK outside the capital.

"We have 50,000 businesses in Birmingham, compared to only 16,000 in Manchester.

"We should be proud of the fact that we remain in the top tier of cities for inward investment," he added.