PM: Jobs are top priority
Gordon Brown today insisted his top priority for the West Midlands is to help people who have lost their jobs in Britain's deepening recession.
He said: "If people lose their jobs, my aim is to get them quickly into other jobs." But he refused to intervene in one of the region's biggest developments, the Summer Row shopping centre in Wolverhampton, which collapsed last month.
Around 2,000 jobs would have been created by the £300 million project, which would feature 85 new stores and transform the city centre.
But the Prime Minister declined to appeal directly for investors to come forward after a consortium of Irish businessmen pulled out, leaving it £150m short.
Mr Brown, in the Black Country as part of his national tour, told the Express & Star: "The issue is obviously that this is a public-private partnership, so you need a private element as well as a public element. You have to work with private businesses taking shops and slots in the development.
"But I have no doubt that Wolverhampton's need for the shopping centre will be reflected in further investment coming forward at some stage, and I presume the council is looking for new investors."
Mr Brown said the Government would tackle rising unemployment in the West Midlands by bringing forward capital investment projects, including new and improved schools, hospitals, road and transport projects.
He highlighted more than £2.3 billion spending on schools in the West Midlands over the next three years as an example of how the Government is "investing for the future" during the economic recession.
He said: "The economic slowdown must not be an excuse to slow down the pace of investment and reform to strengthen our country."
Read more of Gordon Brown's exclusive interview with Peter Rhodes in Friday's Express & Star.
