London and Paris remain Europe's top global cities

London is the only British city to have risen in terms of both output and performance growth in the past five years, according to a new report.

The report, published by the Global Cities Initiative and Centre for London, also shows that European cities are being outpaced in growth by their emerging market counterparts.

While London and Paris remain Europe’s top global cities, the 20 largest European cities have grown annually by 1.6% since 1993, while cities in emerging markets have grown at 6.2%.

In a comparison of British and German major cities, all German cities grew their jobs base by at least 3% over the past five years, while the same could only be said of London.

Glasgow was noted as experiencing considerable difficulty rebuilding its jobs base, and other areas of the UK only perform marginally better.

However, Manchester was singled out as an example of a revived post-industrial city.

These are cities with gateways to regional markets, benefits from serving the EU market, and should focus on improved rail and air links.

Bristol was also highlighted as a green city. These cities have an advanced green economy and engineering excellence, and should focus on smart urban design.

London was singled out in Europe as having the best connections to international markets, but its infrastructure was ranked sixth behind Copenhagen, Barcelona and Frankfurt.

The report suggested global cities like London should focus on infrastructure upgrades responsive to growth.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Ben Rogers, director of the Centre for London, said: “London performs well on infrastructure but it has to continue to invest.

“There’s always the chance that the government will turn the tap off. There will be some big public investment in airport capacity - does that mean London won’t get the other things it needs?”