UK cities must not be hit from Tory EU rows – Liverpool mayor

If some commentators are to be believed, we are just a few short months away from a referendum of whether we stay in the European Union.

The single biggest political decision any of us will have made (at least since the last time we voted on it in 1975) is fast creeping up on us. Unfortunately, so much of the coverage focuses on the psychodrama that is the Conservative party.

Which ministers will back David Cameron’s renegotiated deal? And which are just itching to pull out of Europe altogether? What does mean for the race to succeed Cameron? And will Boris will join the ‘outers’ or will Theresa May back the deal?

But this referendum is more important and far-reaching than the future of the Tory party. Our place in Europe cannot be frittered away as the Tories rip into each other.

Many on the left are not instinctive EU supporters. The labour movement was, for a long time, very hostile about Europe, fearing it would become a ‘capitalists’ club’ and not reflect the needs of working people.

But we saw with the social legislation that Europe pioneered (especially in the dark days of the 1980s) that the EU could be a means of providing a more humane alternative to Thatcherism.

It’s a lesson we learned in Liverpool. Ours is a pro-European city. I say that most obviously because we are a port city, which instantly gives us an international perspective. We are also a former European Capital of Culture.

But that aside, we have experienced that most practical of benefits of being in the EU: hard cash. Quite simply, Europe was there for us when our own government wasn’t.

Objective One and other regional funding streams helped bring Liverpool back from the dark days of the 1980s when ministers in the Thatcher Government were seriously contemplating writing us off entirely.

Being a part of the European Union helped us to bounce back and catalysed many of the dramatic changes we’ve seen in the city over the past few years.

The forthcoming referendum campaign is an opportunity to remind the public how many of our major cities and urban areas have benefited from being inside the EU.

We must not let an internal row in the Conservative party rob us of one of the truest friends we have known.

Joe Anderson is Labour Mayor of Liverpool