Chamber still seeks regional support
The Black Country Chamber of Commerce is continuing to urge the Government for extra support for the West Midlands economy after Chancellor Rishi Sunak's latest economic statement.
Chamber chief executive Corin Crane said, “Businesses will welcome the help and support from today’s announcement as helping furloughed employees back to the workplace, a cut in VAT for the hospitality sector and investment in training and skills for the younger generation has to be good news for our struggling economy.
“However, as a region we need to ensure that the Black Country and the West Midlands is not left behind and would welcome a positive signal from government around a recent submission to recharge the local economy.
"We would urge them to consider the request for the £3.2 billion which the West Midlands Combined Authority has put forward as this will help our region moving forward following this crisis and ensure we can rebuild our local economy."
The Chancellor put job creation and training schemes at the heart of the latest stage of his coronavirus recovery plan including £2bn to fund hundreds of thousands of work placements as part of a three-point 'kickstart scheme' to keep young people out of unemployment.
Further support was given to encourage employers return workers from furlough and retain them until January 2021 by providing a £1,000 bonus per employee.
