London open for ‘business’
Khan in US
CHICAGO, Sept 17, (Agencies): London’s mayor sought Friday to reassure American investors, tourists and students that his city will remain open for business despite his country’s decision to withdraw from the European Union. Sadiq Khan said during a visit to Chicago that London is demanding a seat at the table when the British government begins formally negotiating its exit from the EU, and will ensure the deal is a “good one.” London’s first Muslim mayor, the son of Pakistani immigrants, came with another message for America, telling reporters that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was playing “into the hands of extremists” with his hostile rhetoric toward Muslims.
But Khan and his delegation of London-based entrepreneurs were primarily focused on trying to ease concerns over a British exit from the EU during their five-day trip to Montreal, Chicago and New York. Uncertainty over whether Britain will continue to have access to the EU’s single, market has left financial experts worried about a big hit to the country’s business sector.
Khan
Reassure
“One of the reasons I’m here is to reassure friends in America, businesses, students, tourists, innovators, investors that London is open,” Khan said.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel signed a technology-partnership agreement with Khan on Friday and said he wouldn’t have done so if he had doubts about London’s future status as a global city.
The two men took a boat tour of the Chicago River, cruising past skyscrapers including one bearing Trump’s name in 20-foot tall letters. Emanuel showed off the city’s new Riverwalk, a pedestrian and recreational path lined with cafes and businesses. They dropped in on a discussion about entrepreneurship at a Chicago tech hub known as 1871.
Emanuel, who is Jewish, also planned to take Khan to his synagogue.
“You have in Chicago a mayor of Jewish faith,” Khan said. “We have in London a mayor of Islamic faith. I think that message — our friendship — is a message that is bigger than the Brexit vote.”
On Thursday, Khan delivered a speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on the importance of social integration in diverse cities, saying a failure to do so makes it easier for “terrorists to radicalize our young people.” Afterward, he told reporters that Trump plays to extremists.
Mainstream
“We shouldn’t inadvertently play into the hands of extremists who say it’s not possible to be somebody who is a mainstream Muslim and hold Western liberal values,” Khan said.
Britain’s impending exit from the European Union does not weaken the case for the union of Scotland with the rest of the United Kingdom despite its difficulties, Britain’s Secretary of State for Scotland says.
“The vital union for Scotland’s interests remains the United Kingdom,” David Mundell was due to say on Saturday on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the Scottish independence referendum on September 18, according to the advance text of a speech.
Scotland, one of the UK’s four member nations, voted to stick with the EU in June, clashing with a vote to leave in Britain as a whole and causing much disgruntlement as the process of renegotiating 40 years of trade and political agreements are hammered out.
Edinburgh’s pro-independence devolved government has pledged to uphold Scotland’s EU membership in whatever way it can, and is holding out the possibility of a new independence drive if Scotland’s EU interests are not protected.
“The fact is that an independent Scotland’s membership of the EU would be very different from the current arrangements,” Mundell was due to tell an audience in Glasgow.
As a new member Scotland would be expected to join the euro, the EU’s single currency, and leave the pound, the speech added.
“It is the UK’s fundamental stability, even in the context of Brexit, which makes the case for the union so compelling,” he will say, citing ties of trade, culture, language and history.
The Scottish administration argues the opposite, saying many people voted to stick with the UK by a 10 point margin in the 2014 independence referendum because they were told that it was the only way to guarantee EU membership. After the Brexit shock, the UK can no longer be considered a safe harbour, it says.