Mayor's final speech event at Bristol Beacon cost taxpayers £5K

An event at the Bristol Beacon where Marvin Rees made his final major speech as city mayor and discussed his time in office with TV historian David Olusoga cost city council taxpayers more than £5,000, it has been revealed. The figures were disclosed through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Bristol City Council said it spent a total of £5,353.77 on last month’s event, called ‘ Marvin Rees In Conversation With David Olusoga’. It broke down the costs as £1,832 for venue hire and support, £1,990 to video the event, which was live-streamed and is available to watch on YouTube, £613.50 for sign language interpreters, £564.28 for a teleprompter operator, £295 for a photographer, £39 on printing and £19.99 to Eventbrite which promoted the tickets.

The member of the public who submitted the FOI also asked how many hours of officer time were dedicated to the occasion, but the authority replied that this was not tracked. Asked to comment on the costs, a Mayor’s Office spokesperson said: “This public event was fully booked within hours of being announced.

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“Over 1,400 people have already watched it online, where the video is available to view on the council’s YouTube page and the Mayor’s blog.” The event on March 13 took place on the 100th day since Bristol Beacon reopened.

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Labour’s Mr Rees, who is two weeks away from leaving office at the end of his second term after eight years as directly elected mayor – a role residents voted to scrap in a 2022 referendum – told the audience that the city suffered a “lack of self-belief” and “debilitating cynicism”. After the speech he took questions from Mr Olusoga and attendees.