Andy Street vows to bring region together in post-Covid fightback

The West Midlands Mayor said the region’s economic revival post-Covid was his “number one priority”, with a pledge to create 100,000 new jobs in two years at the heart of his plans.

He said the pandemic had seen progress “knocked for six” and ensured the West Midlands had “slipped back” from its strong position at the start of last year.

Speaking at the launch of his campaign for re-election, the Conservative Mayor vowed to spearhead the fightback, saying he would bring the region together to make sure it recovered from the economic hit of the last 12 months.

He said things had been going “pretty well” before Covid, with 97,000 new jobs created in his first three years in office seeing the gap on the national average for employment almost closed.

“We were doing levelling up here before the phrase was invented,” he said at the virtual launch, citing a record employment rate for the West Midlands at the start of 2020 of 75.2 per cent, with 30,000 new jobs being created a year.

Describing jobs as the “key issue” facing the region, Mr Street said the progress – including in creating new opportunities for young people – had now been “put into sharp reverse”.

He said it would take an “incredible act of unity” to bring the region together so it could “bounce back from the hit that we have had”, saying he had “worked to try to unite the region and lead in a collaborative way” throughout the pandemic.

On his employment plan, the Mayor said it would involve creating more jobs than have been lost, and that the region would need to increase job opportunities faster than ever before to meet his two-year pledge.

“Every single thing in that plan is things we can see now – and it is properly funded – whether it’s the jobs from HS2, the Commonwealth Games, retraining around digital growth, vacancies in heath and social care professions, it’s all worked out,” he said.

Mr Street defended his record on bringing in billions of pounds in Government investment, saying the West Midlands was now “getting close” to the level of transport investment per head as London.

He said it was a “sign of team work” that deals with government departments had been secured to open up offices in the region, that the BBC had committed to increase its presence here and that the Commonwealth Games had been secured for 2022.

The region’s rate of housebuilding had doubled in the last five years without digging up the greenbelt, Mr Street said, pointing to £400 million in government cash for the West Midlands Combined Authority’s ‘brownfield first’ scheme.

Investment in transport is five times the amount it was in 2016, he added, with projects including Metro extensions, new railway stations and lines, Dudley very light rail scheme and investment in greener buses and extra routes.

Mr Street said that since he had become Mayor the West Midlands had begun to redress the balance after decades of being overlooked for investment.

“You can’t deal with 40 years of under investment in just four,” he said.

“But genuinely, we’ve started, and our message would be that we’re going to make that forward plan a reality, because the evidence is it’s already happening.”

Mr Street's campaign has been backed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who in a video message hailed the Mayor's success in landing investment for the region.

Also speaking at the event, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the mayoral election in the West Midlands would serve as a bellweather for the rest of the country.

He said: “I think the mood of the country is to come out of this pandemic and build back better, by which we mean where we can work together we can get things done, and actually that is the best and fastest way to recover jobs and the security of the economy that Andy has been building in the West Midlands."

Mr Shapps said Mr Street had managed to land more than £3 billion in government investment, with his success down to the fact that he "does the detailed work" and "builds the best business case".

Dudley Council leader Patrick Harley said working together with the Mayor and the combined authority had brought in major projects to Dudley, including the £82 million Portersfield development, the £24m transport interchange and the £28m Very Light Rail innovation centre.

"We have clearly seen what can be achieved in four years with a Metro mayor, a council and government all working together.

"Dudley people and the wider West Midlands need this to continue to get us out of the impact of Covid."

Walsall North MP Eddie Hughes praised Mr Street's record on combatting homelessness, saying there were now 377 former rough sleepers in permanent homes across the region.

He also hailed the campaign to secure £36m for a new A&E department at Walsall Manor hospital, and work to bring in millions of pounds to regenerate struggling areas from the Towns Fund.

"Andy was elected on a clear commitment to be the Mayor for the whole region, not just Birmingham city centre," he said.

"And we can see here in Walsall clear evidence of what he's done to prove just that."

Other candidates at the May 6 poll are Liam Byrne (Labour), Steve Caudwell (Green) and Jenny Wilkinson (Lib Dem). Ashvir Sangha and Tim Weller are standing as independent candidates.