Warning Brexit will sideline city region
INTERIM GM MAYOR SAYS LONDON AND SCOTLAND WILL DROWN US OUT
THERESA May has fired the starting gun on Brexit negotiations - but Greater Manchester has warned its voice is already being ‘drowned out’ by Scotland and London.
A momentous day for modern politics saw the Prime Minister formally trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, the legal mechanism for withdrawal.
Her letter, signed yesterday afternoon and received by Brussels at lunchtime the following day, spoke of a ‘deep’ and ‘special’ continuing partnership between Britain and the union’s 27 remaining states.
But it also contained barely coded threats regarding the EU’s need for Britain’s security expertise, alongside her stated expectation of an unparalleled trade deal at the end of forthcoming negotiations.
In a speech to Parliament which repeatedly referenced the need for togetherness - but which was criticised by Labour figures, including Stalybridge MP Jonathan Reynolds, as empty and ‘clichéd’ - she told MPs: “We can together make a success of this moment. And we can together build a stronger, fairer, better Britain – a Britain our children and grandchildren are proud to call home.”
Her letter to Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, referred to ‘a deep and special partnership,’ before explicitly linking any future economic deal with Britain’s ‘cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism.’
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron immediately hit out at what he said was a ‘shameless’ and ‘blatant threat’ to withdraw British intelligence support at a time of an unprecedented terror threat.
Local leaders called for Brexit to hand more control to English cities, following a Commons debate in which more powers for Scotland were repeatedly raised.
Interim Greater Manchester mayor Tony Lloyd said: “The north has a population greater than London and almost three times that of Scotland. Greater Manchester alone has an economy larger than Wales.’ As the UK negotiates Brexit we cannot and must not be ignored.
“I know that leaders across the north are concerned that while an economically powerful London and an increasingly politically important Scotland are having their say, our voices are being drowned out.”