What a new Government means for the West Midlands

By Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands

In May, I had the privilege of being chosen as your Mayor, elected on a platform of changing the West Midlands for the better - growing our economy, creating fantastic opportunities for young people and providing affordable good quality homes.

As a region, you told me clearly that you wanted something to change and to tackle some of the issues we face every day - ending low pay and unemployment which blights young lives; tackling homelessness and poor housing; backing our struggling high streets, helping small businesses to grow; and fixing our bus network to create a public transport system people can rely on.

Now the nation has chosen a Labour Government, led by Sir Keir Starmer, who has set out how it will transform our country by delivering economic security, cheaper bills, safer streets, supporting the NHS, securing our borders and creating better opportunities for our children.

But there is no magic wand, no simple answer – rising to the challenge and rebuilding our country will take hard work and responsible leadership, and here in the West Midlands we stand ready to work with the new Government to play our part in delivering the growth and change we need.

While there are many challenges, there remains much to be proud of in our vibrant and diverse region. In our world class universities, our businesses, our councils and our many communities we have willing partners who stand ready to help us in this mission.

So having set out our key priorities for the West Midlands – opportunities for young people, a revolution in social and affordable housing, a plan to grow the regional economy and a reliable and affordable public transport network – I will be talking to our new ministers and working with them to help us fully unlock our great region’s potential.

The youth unemployment rate is too high, double the national average in some areas – so in my first few weeks as Mayor we have developed a Youth Plan, launched yesterday, to offer a guarantee to young people that they can access the support, advice and training they need to get on the career ladder. 

We will also work with local businesses to open up at least 20,000 work or training placements specifically for young people. But we know that with greater help from Government – including more influence over 16-18 education – we can supercharge this offer, create the highly skilled and well-motivated workforce our region needs, and give our young people their future back.

Underpinning this is the support needed for our industries, businesses and entrepreneurs to grow, to innovate and to create well-paid jobs and rewarding careers.

There are great success stories such as in our cutting-edge advanced manufacturing sector, our creative industries like TV, gaming and film and emerging green technologies. But there are not enough of these and in many areas the economy has stagnated. Our Investment Zone, which I and our council leaders secured last month, has a focus on key sectors in Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton and the potential to deliver a £5.5 billion boost to our region. We will be looking for new Government policies, such as planning reform and a new National Wealth Fund, to attract more investment and the jobs that go with it.

Changing how we deliver housing is one of the most important things I can do to benefit the lives of people here in the West Midlands. We are using our devolved funding to unlock and clean up former industrial land to deliver new homes and businesses. But the previous government’s rules for the use of these funds are impeding and undermining delivery. I will be asking the new government for greater flexibility on how we use our funding to truly deliver a revolution in affordable and social housing supply.

To be a success as a region we need a public transport system which is affordable, reliable, safe and green – but our privately owned bus network, which accounts for eight in ten public transport journeys – is failing, with rising fares and service reductions despite increasing public subsidies. Next week the WMCA Board will set out the next steps towards taking back control of our buses – and I will be asking Government for help to streamline that transition process.

Our new Labour Government has set out its mission to fix our country and I have been clear that I want our region to be best place to live, learn and do business. Working together, we will show that Labour in power is dedicated to delivering real change for the people of the West Midlands.