A regional daily columnist has called for “independence” for its patch after it voted in favour of remaining in the European Union.
The Liverpool Echo’s Paddy Shennan said the city had “kept its head” in Thursday’s referendum, which saw almost 52pc of the electorate vote for Brexit.
In Liverpool, 58pc of voters favoured Remain – bucking the trend of much of the United Kingdom.
The Echo came out last week as one of four regional daily newspapers to officially back the Remain campaign.
In his piece, entitled ‘Liverpool kept its head – now we need independence’, Paddy wrote: “Liverpool kept its head while all around were losing theirs. But others have made our bed and now we have to lie in it.
“We have been known as the Republic of Liverpool for decades – let’s now make it official. The country narrowly voted to cut its ties with Europe, but it wasn’t a narrow vote in Liverpool, with 58pc wanting to stay.
“This is now a deeply-divided, insular and inward-looking nation. It can no longer grandly boast of being the United Kingdom or Great Britain. Little Britain more like.
“Yes, politics is broken – but so is the nation. Last week, the ECHO asked you to ‘think New Liverpool and vote Remain’. And you did.”
Paddy went on to question whether readers would feel part of the UK or even the North-West anymore, given 54pc of people in the region voted to leave, adding “the Little Englanders have spoken loudest and now we have to deal with it”.
Scotland is widely expected to hold a second referendum on independence after voting by 62-38pc to remain in the EU.
Sign up for our free daily email bulletin
Follow HTFP on Twitter
Got a story? Email the Editor at
I support this initiative wholeheartedly… I live in London
Report this comment
Oh dear! My understanding is that the vote was against membership of the political and economic entity known as the European Union, not against “togetherness, stability, partnership and unity”. Ask the Greeks how they feel about stability and partnership in the EU.
Perhaps the newsagent’s federation, which has welcomed the Brexit vote, has a more realistic view of the current UK-EU relationship.
Report this comment
Well done, Paddy. I’d hate to think you would write a silly knee-jerk response to a UK-wide issue. Who could doubt that a Republic of Liverpool would work? Not I.
But before you do, you may want to identify the areas of Liverpool which voted out. See if you can break it down by street so that those roads which don’t support Remain can be bordered off lest they don’t taint the Republic’s ideology.
Would the Republic be looking to trade with the rest of the UK at all and would it hope to discuss whether there would be freedom of movement for the rest of England?
At least the Liverpool Echo could claim to be a national paper, though.
Report this comment