Marvin Rees

Rees' term of office started with a £60 million budget deficit to 2020, and in August 2016 Rees instigated a voluntary severance programme aimed at reducing 1,000 from the council's 6,970 employees.

In the 2020 Powerlist, Rees was listed in the Top 100 of the most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent.

In March 2019, Rees intervened at the last moment to stop a second plaque being added to the statue of the Edward Colston (1636 – 1721), the Bristol-born merchant, to summarise his pros (great philanthropy) and cons (involvement in the slave trade), and accused the Society of Merchant Venturers of being behind a rewording of the plaque, even though many members of the public had contributed to this during the Council-led project. Rees proposed that the wording, which he thought was not harsh enough, would be looked at again as part of "wider work on improving our cultural offer around the transatlantic slave trade".

Rees' time in the mayoral office is most likely to be defined by his decision in September 2018 not to build the long awaited arena by Temple Meads Station, in the centre of Bristol, despite the vast majority of the council backing the plans. At the time, Marvin dismissed those in support of the plan as "noise". The episode brought discussion about the authority of a city mayor to make autonomous decisions in the face of strong opposition, and concerns were raised at how businesses are able to influence those with decision making and planning powers in cities. The primary reasons Rees gave for the decision were build cost, future financial risk and job creation. The build cost for the council, that would have to be borrowed, had increased to £150 million plus half of any cost overruns. Costs arising should the arena not be successful would be to the council, and expert advice was that the venue size was too small for major events. Rees also argued a mixed use development would create more and better paid jobs.

In 2018 a documentary film was released with a premiere at Watershed, Bristol, about Marvin Rees' journey into politics and his two campaigns for the city's top political job. The Mayor's Race, by director Loraine Blumenthal was filmed between 2011-2017, covering Rees' two mayoral campaigns in 2012 and 2016. The film depicts Rees as a character with a sizeable political ambition, who must first convince himself that it is possible to achieve it. Rees positions himself as a mixed-race man from a disadvantaged social background, while the film seeks to knit his story and his prospects together with Bristol's historical issues of race and racism - including Bristol's bus boycott of 1963, St Paul's uprisings and transatlantic slavery. The story is told largely through Marvin Rees' own voice, with his family also contributing to the portrait. The film leans towards a personal biography approach, rather than taking a political emphasis, showing Rees on a journey to grow himself into the role of mayor, as he campaigns for election victory. The Mayor's Race is an independently produced, feature-length documentary, that runs for 80 minutes, co-produced by Loraine Blumenthal and Rob Mitchell.

In September 2017, Rees was placed at Number 78 in "The 100 Most Influential People on the Left" by commentator Iain Dale.

On 5 May 2016, Rees was elected Mayor of Bristol. He received 56,729 votes in the first round and 12,021 transfer votes in the second round, meaning that he received 68,750 votes overall. He is often referred to as the first black mayor in the UK or in Europe, however this is incorrect. Dr Allan Glaisyer Minns and John Archer were both elected black Mayors in the UK in the 20th century. However, Rees does appear to be the first directly elected (by constituents) black Mayor in the UK.

Rees is the Founder and Programme Lead at The Bristol Leadership Programme, a two-week programme that will help a dozen people annually from impoverished backgrounds to attain what they aspire to. He was also a member of the Bristol Legacy Commission which dispersed its funds and ceased operating in April 2012. and a former Director of the Bristol Partnership whose goals are to make Bristol's prosperity sustainable, reduce health and wealth inequality, build stronger and safer communities, and raise the aspirations and achievements of young people and families.

In 2012, selected by an individual ballot of Labour Party members in the city, Rees defeated four other candidates including the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour group in Bristol and a former Member of Parliament. He received 25,906 votes, coming second, after George Ferguson. Rees found it difficult readjusting to normal life following his election loss.

Marvin Rees was brought up in Bristol, partly in Lawrence Weston and Easton, by his British mother and Jamaican father. He obtained a Master's degree in Political Theory and Government at the University of Wales in Swansea, and also a Master's in Global Economic Development at Eastern University (United States) in 2000. Later he completed the World Fellows Program at Yale University. During a fellowship he assisted Tony Campolo, an advisor to President Bill Clinton.

Marvin Johnathan Rees (born April 1972) is a British Labour Party politician. Since May 2016, he has served as Mayor of Bristol. In doing so, he became the first directly-elected mixed-raced mayor in Europe.