Mayor calls on north to raise its voice to have say in Brexit future
NORTHERN leaders are being urged to speak with one voice to government over negotiations with the EU - or face a ‘London-centric’ Brexit that ignores the needs of the region.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is bringing together a ‘Convention of the North’ this summer in the hope of forcing ministers to take northern concerns as seriously as those of Wales and Scotland.
By bringing together other leaders, Mr Burnham hopes the new grouping can also lobby for further devolution and a narrowing of the north-south divide on transport - including an ongoing bid to get eastwest rail links built at the same time as HS2.
Alongside close ally Steve Rotherham, the mayor of Merseyside, Mr Burnham has invited city mayors and council leaders across the north to a meeting in Newcastle in late June.
“If we sit back and leave it to old Westminster way of doing things, there is a real risk that north will end up with second-class transport plans and a Londoncentric Brexit,” said Mr Burnham.
“Through devolution, we have a real chance of rebalancing this country from south to north.
“The Convention of the North could give the north a louder voice than it has ever had before and help to get us the right decisions on rail investment, Brexit and further devolution.
“The time has come for real change in the way our country works and in our politics.
“By bringing together business and civic leaders alongside political leaders, we believe we can give a powerful voice to communities which have traditionally been neglected in our overcentralised democratic structures.”
At the same time as forging a united front on Brexit, this summer’s northern convention which had previously been referred to as a ‘council of the north’ when it was first mooted by Mr Burnham last summer - is also designed to lobby government on specific transport projects.
Mr Burnham wants northern leaders to speak as one ahead of next autumn’s budget in a bid to secure the funding needed for extensive new east-west rail links that were first mooted under chancellor George Osborne.
“Westminster has created a large north-south divide in our country and closing it won’t come from the same-old but from truly new thinking,” added Mr Burnham.
“People in the north have been promised a Northern Powerhouse and this convention will be the way of making sure they get it.”
Mr Burnham’s comments echo those of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, the thinktank set up by Osborne after he left office, which today also calls on government to build the two rail projects simultaneously.
Arguing it would create a £100bn boost to the northern economy, it wants to see both HS2 and HS3 - the name sometimes given to improved east-west connections - completed by 2033, cutting journey times not only to London but between northern cities.
Northern Powerhouse Partnership vice-chair Lord Jim O’Neill said: “Without connecting as quickly and efficiently as possible the many closely-located towns and cities of the Northern Powerhouse, it will not be able to create the agglomeration benefits that would transform the economy of the UK, never mind just the north. Indeed by doing it, the financial investment justification for central government would vastly exceed the usual cautious value for money criteria, and be one of the most exciting things for post-Brexit Britain, notably for an area that has many disillusioned voters.”