New West Midlands devolution deal on the cards as talks progress, says minister

Levelling Up Minister Dehenna Davison revealed that talks are underway with West Midlands Mayor Andy Street over the region's trailblazer devolution plans.

And she said she was "optimistic" of striking a deal that would see the region get more decision-making powers and control over funding.

The Bishop Auckland MP rolled up at Wolverhampton's National Brownfield Institute in her Citroen C3 during a whistle-stop tour of the region, which also saw her visit Birmingham and attend a meeting with Mr Street.

She was given a tour of the site by University of Wolverhampton associate director Ray Flynn, and met with staff and the institute's resident robot dog, Spot.

She told the Express & Star: "Talks are ongoing regarding how we can further the devolution deal, and I am very optimistic that we can reach an agreement to devolve more powers and more cash [to the West Midlands].

"My view is that sometimes Westminster needs to get out of the way and give more powers back to local areas. They know their communities best and it is up to empower them to do their stuff."

The region's devolution proposals were unveiled over the summer and received the backing of previous PM's Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

They would see the West Midlands handed greater control over housing and more of a say on how funding pots are used.

The region has also submitted a number of bids for low tax investment zones, which have now been placed under review by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove.

Ms Davison said no decision had yet been made over the policy. "We had hundreds of bids from over the country, and regardless of whether the policy goes ahead, we have gained so much insight for some of the areas that have bid," she said.

"All of the information – on sites that are ripe for development, and industries and skill sets that bids have focused on – will be really useful regardless of how the policy moves forward.

"We are determined to speed up development, to get people building and get more jobs created."

The MP, who was part of the 2019 Tory intake, also revealed she wanted the West Midlands to be part of a levelling up "deep dive", which would see a "crack team" sent in to look at issues that were stopping progress in the region.

She said: "So far we've done Blackpool and Grimsby, and we're currently doing one in Blyth. I am very keen to get a West Midlands one up and running.

"They enable us to go into an area and look at what the challenges are from stopping things from moving forward, and what we can do to help unlock investment.

"I think there's a lot of potential in it."

She added that the Government was "absolutely committed" to levelling up. "The fact that we are still doing it should give people some hope," she said.

"For me levelling up is a big part of getting involved in politics, and I would not in good conscious have taken on this job if I didn't think that it still had legs and was really at the forefront of government policy.

"Since 2019 we have faced some pretty tricky global challenges, which has made the mission in itself much more difficult. We're still seeing the impact from Covid and the war in Ukraine is making things much more difficult.

"We really want to inject cash into local areas, because that's what people in places like Wolverhampton really want to see."

Ms Davison said people would have to "watch this space" regarding national plans for housing and the green belt, with Mr Gove expected to provide clarity over the coming weeks.