Britain | Devolution

Since Brexit, Britain’s union has grown increasingly European 

To buttress a shaky nation, British leaders borrow a continental architecture

Image: Mirrorpix

BLACKPOOL BEARS little resemblance to Brussels. It has no Tintin, no René Magritte, and sticks of rock in place of fine chocolates. But consider one similarity. Just as the de facto capital of the European Union lies symbolically between Paris and Berlin, so Blackpool is roughly midway between Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. It was the ideal place, therefore, for an experiment in the government of the United Kingdom. In November the town hosted the inaugural meeting of a body dubbed the “Prime Minister and Heads of Devolved Government Council.”

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “A rather European union”

From the August 19th 2023 edition

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