Whitehall responded positively to an expensive chunk of research, the Manchester Independent Economic Review, which presents the case for exploiting potential in the area's closelyknit urban sprawl as a way of boosting the entire British economy.
On the other hand, he has the commercial interests of the UK's banks and businesses to protect, and he fears that a more closely-knit eurozone would seek to rig the single market to the detriment of Britain.