THE signs around regenerating Liverpool said it all … “We couldn’t have done it without eu!”

And as though we were responding with a thank you card “for those hundreds of millions of euros in the 1990s”, Liverpool voted to remain in Europe. 

In unemotional reality we have no choice but to put the blame game aside and get on with it

Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Liverpool One, the cruise terminal, the waterfront arena, European Capital of Culture …. just some of the things that have changed the skyline and the mindset of the city: funding and ideas from the EU that brought private investor confidence to the city.

Sefton and Wirral, both major recipients of European Objective One money that triggered the renaissance of the city region and reversed Thatcher’s managed decline, also gave the thumbs up to Brussels yesterday.

But it wasn’t enough. Today the three boroughs lining the Mersey woke up to discover they had become a virtual enclave, out of step with nearly the whole of England - except London and a tiny, but crucial handful of metropolitan centres.

Knowsley wanted out, so did St Helens, Halton and West Lancs.

That Euro tap, which continues to direct funds into Merseyside, is still flowing but not for much longer.

Merseysiders remembered, in yesterday’s historic poll, how the EU had come to the rescue when politicians in Westminster wrote off Liverpool - and its environs - as a basket case.

Of the 203,728 people in Liverpool who voted, 118,543 chose remain,  - 58 percent - with a turnout of 64.1 percent.

 

 


Katie Whitfield, who works with a theatre company in Liverpool, was typical of the Remain voters.

“Liverpool has done very well out of Europe,” she said as she voted at the polling station in Lark Lane.

Up in the north end, outside Waterloo Station, a teenager who happened to be wearing a blue T shirt was handing out Remain leaflets on behalf of the Labour Party. He told how in the first 30 minutes he had been branded a "Tory traitor" and a "scumbag" and by three separate middle aged men.

Manchester voted remain by an even bigger margin than Liverpool, but along with Leeds the three North West cities were like castaway islands in an ocean of Brexit supporters.

David Cameron, his voice shaking, was gone in the time it took to reach for the conflakes. But he pledged to carry on until October when the keys to 10 Downing Street will be handed to his successor.

And while UKIP’s Nigel Farage might hail the result as Britain’s Independence Day, and Scotland is once again forging its own exit strategy, two big questions arise for what's left the north: What about George Osborne? What about the Northern Powerhouse? 

If and when Osborne falls on his sword, will his highly vaunted strategy to rebalance what the M1 signs simply call “The North” be switched off? 

The Federation of Small Businesses is wondering too. "Is this now at risk, on hold, or is it a case of carry on regardless?, asked Simon Edmondson, chairman of the Manchester & North Cheshire FSB, in a statement today.

Some ideas are worth hanging on to and Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds have all faced bitter adversity to make, in 2016, a formidable trio. They should reach out to another northern remainer, Newcastle, organise an urgent summit to keep alive the concept. There is nothing to stop these cities taking the lead on a DIY basis if necessary - with no asking permission so that nobody can say no.

The results of the EU Referendum have demonstrated a dramatic divide between those living in England’s metropolitan centres and those living in the shires and boroughs in between. The divisive, often emotional nature of the campaigning - and the closeness of that result - threatens to polarise the people - by demographics and age - even further.

In unemotional reality we have no choice but to put the blame game aside and get on with it.

Behind the scenes there will be inquests into why the majority of people chose to leave the European Union, despite the repeated warnings of the consequences.

As dawn broke over the Mersey, and hours before the official announcement of the result, it became clear that the groundswell of support for Brexit was unstoppable and Britain is now sailing alone into unchartered waters. 

 

Britain will be the first big country to leave the EU since its formation, but the divorce process can take two years or more as the partnership is unpicked.

At least on paper it’s business as usual as one of 28 members of the bloc - although with EU leaders calling for the exit process to begin immediately, this may not be the amicable separation many had hoped for.

Meanwhile, last night, back in Wavertree tennis centre where the Liverpool votes were counted, Labour councillors and activists arrived, quietly confident that the returns they were seeing in the city would be replicated across the land.

Nevertheless, as the reality unfolded throughout the early hours, on the wall mounted TV in the reception area, the pictures on the screen juddered and flickered.

It was as if even the telly thought the news was too painful to transmit.

Comment/analysis by Larry Neild and Angie Sammons

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