In the first episode of our new mini-series, Aditya Chakrabortty speaks to Preston city councillor Matthew Brown about his alternative approach to keeping wealth in the local economy

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A new podcast that showcases the people and ideas in Aditya Chakrabortty’s new fortnightly column The Alternatives. Every two weeks, we’ll bring the characters – and the places in which they live – to life as we hear their alternative approaches for making the economy work for everyone.

To kick off, we hear from Preston city councillor Matthew Brown about the “Preston model”, a new approach to local procurement inspired by a similar initiative in Cleveland, Ohio. In a time of austerity and cuts, how is it that Preston is now seeing an extra £75m being spent in the city?

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