Brexit, how we got here and where we might end up

Day by day, I worry quite where the whole Brexit process is taking us. I'm sure I'm not alone. Not just because I work at a University, or are some kind of irrational remainer who can't accept defeat. No, even if I accept that we're leaving, I've never quite understood the interpretation that we have to torch every link with the outside world, leave the customs union and the even the single market. The world is more interconnected than ever, we can't opt out of that world even if there is some kind of mythical 'will of the people' that says we must.

Anyway, Manchester businesses and political leaders will be joining us on campus on the 21^st of February for a special lunchtime lecture on Brexit featuring a leading Anglo-European civil servant, Sir Andrew Cahn, and the University's Chancellor Lord Mandelson. Entitled The Challenge of Brexit, how we got here and where we might end up, it should provide some very valuable insights, and some glimmer of hope that there are people involved in trade negotiations who know what they're doing.

Sir Andrew Cahn and Lord Mandelson faced many challenges in their time in the civil service and in government, but none quite like Brexit. After a period in industry, Sir Andrew became CEO of UK Trade & Investment. He worked closely with three successive Prime Ministers, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron and served on the Boards of the Foreign Office and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. 

We're registering people from 11.45, the lecture will be an hour and you can register here. There'll be butties and nibbles afterwards.