In Birmingham, the ‘city of a thousand trades’, Brexit is endangering a modern-day renaissance

England’s second most populous city was revived by EU money but voted to leave the bloc, in a pattern that has become all too familiar, says Patrick Cockburn

The derelict Poolway Shopping Centre, once a thriving hub with big-name shops (Getty)

Birmingham, once the manufacturing heart of Britain when it was the workshop of the world, rejuvenated itself after the implosion of its industrial base in the 1980s. That collapse, unimpeded by Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative government, was devastating even by the standards of the time because of Birmingham’s over-dependence on the automobile industry.

“This city lost more jobs in less than 10 years than any other part of the UK, including the whole of Scotland and Wales combined,” says Sir Albert Bore, a leading figure on Birmingham City Council. No less than 200,000 positions disappeared and unemployment averaged 25 per cent, climbing to 50 per cent in the worst-hit areas.

“We realised the government was not going to help,” he adds, recalling that the city did not have at that time a single adequate hotel or restaurant in which to house and feed the potential investors it was hoping to attract.