Mayor of Bristol centers on cities as governmental, independent units

I heard a speech of the Mayor of Bristol, England  (yesterday on C--Span) setting forth the view that cities and their county designations are the elemental building blocks of any independent governing structure, including their own--that the cities themselves can be regarded an independent, functional governments.  That may not seem radical, except that, there sits Barcelona, part of Spain, which wishes to retain its own independence from which to form alliances, etc. with those capable of meeting its needs in areas where assistance is obvious, e.g., defense.

Taking cities as the primary building blocks of independence permits a restructuring of national configurations.  Indeed, it opens up the questioning of justification of the present-day configurations along simple, geographical contiguity location. Now, the proposition to demand an accounting of present-day national boundaries to warrant a city's inclusion (and its counties) within a particular nation is just what is lacking; and without it, a city may legitimately claim independent status, should it choose to do so ( I contend). 

By making the cities and their counties independent, we solve the problem of a city's declaring itself independent of its traditional, national incorporation.  It simply reverts to its primal status.

Similarly, has Great Britain asserted its independence from the EU.  Not gaining sufficiently for its people by the union, GB declares it will once again become independent.  Similarly, it is only because of our being accustomed to the current configuration of independent states that we fail to start with the basic building blocks of governmental independence, the cities.  Yet, history has shown cases where cities have been independent of further controlling bodies.    

The only proviso upon any city assuming its independence is that it be a viable course of action, i.e., that it not by so doing, become insolvent and bankrupt.