Merseyside and Europes restless nations: e:

paddy.hoey@edgehill.ac.uk
t: @paddyhoey
Lessons of Brexit for Northern Ireland
Liverpool
self-realisation
Somewhere between self-identity and
integration into state and supra-national
apparatus and global capital that a city or
region finds itself

Within contest of new Europe region

trumps city in only a few exceptions
Barcelona appears to be the model

Existential question isnt the city but the

people, territory and culture
 Liverpool went to
Europe, like
Manchester,
seeking EU
assistance
Why?
 Liverpool, Brexit and the Croissant of Inequality

Three boroughs of Liverpool City Region voted Remain,

Liverpool, Wirral and Sefton
had the profile university areas/ higher density of graduates/
benefitted from tourism

Beyond, different picture Croissant of Inequality

People in Kensington see the regeneration of the city centre and
bio-medical science labs that universities have developed as part
of their land grab, but they literally mean nothing to them.
Community activist, interview, May 2016
Outlying boroughs, Knowsley, St Helens, Halton, voted
overwhelmingly to leave despite huge EU investment
Responding to Robert (Post-Richard Florida): why do we think
of city centres (not even metropolitan districts) as the epi-
centre of city regions economic power?
Critical regionalism: Music and arts -
festivals that are of Liverpool
What was Liverpool to the outside world?
Football, horse racing & music tourism: ergo festivals
The Vomit Economy stags and hens
Liverpool Irish Festival (disclaimer Im on the board)
Writing on the Wall radical writing festival
Sound City genuinely independent music central to
the redevelopment of two dockside independent
quarters (Liverpool is a similar geometric nightmare to
Belfast)
Homotopia/ Liverpool Arabic Festival/ Africa Oy
Comedy Festival/ Royal Court Theatre
Beatle Week/ LIMF
Critical regionalism: Music and arts -
festivals that are of Liverpool
What was Liverpool to the outside world?
Football, horse racing & music tourism: ergo festivals
The Vomit Economy stags and hens
Liverpool Irish Festival (disclaimer Im on the board)
Writing on the Wall radical writing festival
Sound City genuinely independent music central to
the redevelopment of two dockside independent
quarters (Liverpool is a similar geometric nightmare to
Belfast)
Homotopia/ Liverpool Arabic Festival/ Africa Oy
Comedy Festival/ Royal Court Theatre
Beatle Week/ LIMF
Northern Powerhouse/ Disunited Kingdom
What was the North?
Hugely diverse place:
Urban/ rural
West/ East
Metropolitan v post industrial
Post-industrial is hugely important
North is as it is for geographical, geological and geo-economic reasons
What happens when industries linked to rivers/ coal mines/ mills no longer matter?
What happens when the people historically rooted to these
Northern Powerhouse: disproving
regionalism
The original strapline for the initiative was One North which immediately suggests a
homogeneity that is deeply inaccurate and reductive to an immense region which is
characterized by huge economic, cultural and geographic diversity. However, at the same time, it
does place a focus on the region which many politicians and investors seem to identify with.
While Liverpool and Manchester have steamrolled themselves into the funding picture by
speaking with a loud and collective voice, the East (Leeds/Hull/Sheffield) have played a waiting
game.
Leeds people identify more with Yorkshire, Manchester people identify primarily with the city
of Manchester. This, coupled with the fact the Leeds voted against an elected mayor in recent
years, have left Leeds in a bit of an impasse at the moment: the bribe behind the Powerhouse
fund is that is trickles only through an elected mayor.
Dr Ben Walmsley, interview, August 2016.
The (substate) nationalism, European angle
EU is partly predicated on the containment of nationalism because of its calamitous history
However, recognition of regionalism is central to the projects, and regional identity is hugely
important
In one sense: make the EU work for you
Who are we? What are we really about? How can our cultural, political and economic lives
conjoin?
Bonnets Rouges & Breton Nationalism
Unification of cultural and economic
Development of a multi-faced
culturally nationalist, ideological
overlap with Irish nationalism
Emerges out of social networks of the
lifeworld of Breton lived culture
Economic networks around
agriculture/ fishing industry
Tourism