Jeremy Smith is a barrister, and co-director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIME).  A long-time advocate of democratic decentralization and properly-funded public services, from the 1980s he worked at senior level in local and regional government in at UK, European and world levels.  From 2002-10 he was secretary general of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions.  He has written widely on local democracy, law and political economy. He is co-editor of “Rethinking Britain – policy ideas for the many”, published in 2019 by Policy Press.