Brexit and the Northern Powerhouse: What's next for the arts in England's North West?

Brexit will have profound effects on the arts and on film and television production in the North West of England, a region that is already undergoing profound democratic and economic upheaval.

The vote to leave the European Union comes as the most important restructuring of local government since 1974 is seeing the establishment of the new city regions of Manchester and Liverpool with directly elected mayors.

Both cities have been rebuilt in the last two decades largely thanks to European Union funding streams and have built prosperous and vibrant film and television production infrastructures partly thanks to local government agencies accessing EU funding as well as the ability to operate with free movement of people and capital which came with membership of the European Union.

This is happening at the same time as the current Conservative government's flagship Northern project, the Northern Powerhouse, which had the arts and technology as central to economic regeneration, looks to be going through, at best, a radical change in focus, or at worst, a serious and potentially fatal existential crisis.
What are the lessons of Brexit from England's North West and how will Liverpool and Manchester continue to develop successful local film and television production infrastructures to a background of profound political and economic uncertainty?

Dr Paddy Hoey is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Politics at Edge Hill University in Lancashire. He is the author of Shinners, Dissos and Dissenters: Irish Republican Activist Media Since the Good Friday Agreement for Manchester University Press.