Your top 10 – Brexit chaos, civil service moves and a travel deal
THE big national news to break this week, sending the tabloids into a frenzy, was the High Court ruling that there must be a vote by MPs in parliament on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the European Union.
The decision means the Government has lost its battle to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – beginning formal negotiations with the EU on exit terms – without parliamentary backing.
The Government is appealing the decision and a further hearing will take place at the Supreme Court before the end of the year.
Prime minister Theresa May had previously said that Article 50 triggered by the end of next March but this ruling could now see a further protraction of events and yet more uncertainty.
Closer to home in another government shake-up, Manchester is reportedly a frontrunner in the cluster of regional cities which could house significant numbers of government staff as part of cost-cutting moves to decentralise the Civil Service away from London.
The Government Property Unit is said to be eyeing sites in Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool totalling 1.8 million sq ft and in Glasgow totalling 600,000 sq ft.
However, it is Manchester where developers are pitching to the Government with several big hitting agents involved.
Offices supposedly in the running include Hermes and The Co-operative Group’s NOMA; Patrizia’s First Street; Bruntwood and Select Property Group’s Circle Square, FairBriar International’s Middlewood Locks in Salford, U+I’s £850m Mayfield Quarter and English Cities Fund’s New Bailey… so basically most of the offices in Manchester with large foot plates – place your bets!
Our final big read of the week was the news that the owner of Manchester-based business Clarity Travel Management has bought Surrey rival Portman Travel and merged the two companies to create the seventh biggest firm of its kind in the country.
Pat McDonagh, chief executive of Clarity, will lead the merger of the two businesses, which will be headquartered in Clarity’s existing building on Oxford Street in Manchester.
Founded in 2015, following Mawasem’s acquisition of Co-operative Travel Management, Clarity has grown rapidly to become a £200m turnover business, employing 300 staff across the UK.
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