The Hipparcos proper motions of 220 galactic Cepheids , together with relevant ground-based photometry , have been analysed . The effects of galactic rotation are very clearly seen . Mean values of the Oort constants , A = 14.82 \pm 0.84 { km s ^ { -1 } kpc ^ { -1 } } , and B = -12.37 \pm 0.64 { km s ^ { -1 } kpc ^ { -1 } } , and of the angular velocity of circular rotation at the Sun , \Omega _ { o } = 27.19 \pm 0.87 { km s ^ { -1 } kpc ^ { -1 } } , are derived . Comparison of the value of A with values derived from recent radial velocity solutions confirm , within the errors , the zero-points of the PL and PLC relations derived directly from the Hipparcos trigonometrical parallaxes of the same stars . The proper motion results suggest that the galactic rotation curve is declining slowly at the solar distance from the galactic centre ( ( d \Theta / dR ) _ { o } = -2.4 \pm 1.2 km s ^ { -1 } kpc ^ { -1 } ) . The component of the solar motion towards the North Galactic Pole is found to be +7.61 \pm 0.64 km s ^ { -1 } . Based on the increased distance scale deduced in the present paper the distance to the galactic centre derived in a previous radial velocity study is increased to R _ { o } = 8.5 \pm 0.5 kpc .