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May uses MEN article to hit back at Osborne

Theresa May 1Prime Minister Theresa May has used an article in a regional daily to hit back at claims that the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ initiative could be ditched.

Last week, former Chancellor George Osborne, who was sacked by Mrs May, said the new government had experienced a “wobble” over plans to devolve power and funding to Northern cities.

But Mrs May used a first-person piece in the Manchester Evening News yesterday to reaffirm her committment to the project.

In the article she also confirmed 17 October as the date for Manchester’s national Olympic parade.

Wrote the PM: “I don’t want to see our country dependent on one city any more. I want to get all of our great cities firing on all cylinders to rebalance our economy.

“I will work with leaders here in Greater Manchester to build on the Northern Powerhouse, celebrating and further spurring the enormous contribution and potential of cities like Manchester, to deliver economic prosperity and more opportunities for everyone.”

Social affairs editor Jen Williams said the article, which referenced the Northern Powerhouse more than a dozen times, would be read as a response to Mr Osborne’s launch of a new think-tank last week to promote the initiative.

She tweeted:  “Theresa May didn’t take too long to respond to Osborne on the Northern Powerhouse thing.”

3 comments

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  • September 21, 2016 at 8:49 am
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    It’s all very patronising this spiel. We all know the North is dead and has been for decades. The North of England does not constitute ‘Manchester’, a few bars and an advertising agency run by southerners.

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  • September 21, 2016 at 12:04 pm
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    i.e – you don’t have one.

    Coffee shops and empty flats agogo where once industries thrived. Low paid jobs, debt, smoke and mirrors economics.

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