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The EU Referendum, Brexit and the North of England June 15th 2016

  • Tuesday, May 24, 2016
  • School

On Thursday 23rd June Britain will hold a historic referendum to decide whether to remain in or leave the European Union. In preparation for the referendum, Cities@Manchester in collaboration with the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) have organised two events.

1) Greater Manchester and Brexit: prospects for industry, growth and local economic resilience

EU referendum roundtable discussion event on Wednesday 15th June. 1.30-3.00pm – lunch at 12.30pm.

Venue: Room G.045, The Dover Street Building University of Manchester, M13 9GB.

On Wednesday June 15th Cities@Manchester and the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) will co-host a roundtable discussion event on ‘Greater Manchester and Brexit: prospects for industry, growth and local economic resilience’.

Taking place one week before the EU referendum the event will provide a forum for an invited audience of 20-30 business representatives, policymakers, researchers and academics to discuss the EU’s role in local and regional northern economic development strategies. The event will also consider how ‘Brexit’ would affect Greater Manchester and northern regional economies in the context of new devolved governance arrangements, and with consideration of the multiple range of post-referendum scenarios.

Keynote speakers at the event will be:

Colin Talbot, Professor of Government, the University of Manchester

Thomas Aubrey, Director of the Centre for Progressive Capitalism and founder of Credit Capital Advisory

Christian Spence, Head of Research & Policy, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

The event will be held in Room G.045 in the Dover Street Building at the University of Manchester (map) between 1.30-3.00pm, with lunch for all participants provided before the event from 12.30pm.

Register your place here >> Places are limited to 40

In the evening there is then a second event:

2) The EU Referendum, Brexit and the North of England – Manchester public debate June 15th. Registration now live.

One week before the referendum, join a high-profile panel of speakers for a free public debate at the People’s History Museum to discuss the impact of ‘Brexit’ on the North of England. The panel will include:

Lisa Nandy MP. Labour Member of Parliament for Wigan and Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

David Davis MP. Conservative Member of Parliament for Haltemprice and Howden.

Will Hutton. Political  economist, commentator and author.

Mike Emmerich. Founding director of Metro Dynamics and a key figure in the Manchester devolution deal.

Listen to our panel discuss these key questions, hear arguments for remaining in the EU and for leaving, and put your questions to the panel. The event is free and demand for places will be high. Register today to secure your place.

The debate has been organised by Cities@Manchester at the University of Manchester and the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Sheffield, and is supported by the ESRC’s ‘The UK in a Changing Europe’ programme.

Please note event attendees must arrive at least ten minutes before the start time of the event, otherwise their booked space will be given to someone on the reserve list

Please contact the museum as soon as possible if you wish to cancel your reservation so your place can be given to another visitor

Please note all donations are non refundable

Registration for the debate is now live, register here >> 

The Engine Hall at the People's History Museum, where the debate will take place, has a capacity of 150 people and we expect it to sell out.

SPERI and Cities@Manchester, led by Dr Craig Berry (Deputy Director of SPERI) and Professor Adam Leaver (Cities@Manchester) have secured funding for these events from the ESRC as part of their ‘UK in a Changing Europe’ programme to conduct new research on the relationship between Northern city-regional economies and the European economy. At the event we will present a summary of the research and discuss new findings related to the North’s receipt of EU regional development funds and the export relationship between Northern-based industries and the European market.

We hope you will be able to join us for what promises to be a timely and informative discussion both on the immediate economic issues for the city region economy posed by Brexit, but also on the long-term challenges facing the Northern economy and how the North achieves long-term sustainable economic growth, whatever the outcome on June 23rd.

For any further information please contact Tom Hunt, Policy Research Officer at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute: tom.hunt@sheffield.ac.uk