Mayor hails 'strong return' on funding bid after Labour warns of 'pandemic of poverty'
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has defended his record in securing government investment for the region – claiming he has brought in nearly £630 million in the last five months.
Mr Street said the region has so far secured around 20 per cent of the cash demanded from ministers in a £3.2bn cross-party investment case put forward in June.
It comes after Labour's candidate for Mayor, Liam Byrne, used a Commons address to claim the region had only received around five per cent of the cash needed from government.
Birmingham MP Mr Byrne, said: "Unemployment here in the West Midlands is soaring to a level that we last saw in the 1980s, but our Mayor has proved so ineffective that we have failed to secure 95 per cent of what we have asked for in our recovery plan."
He cited figures from a West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) report showing that £174m has been allocated to the region so far.
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Mr Street's office has accused Mr Byrne of confusing the issue and misrepresenting the figures, pointing out that the full funding is expected to be spread over three years.
The Conservative mayor said: "We submitted our cross-party £3.2bn investment case for the West Midlands to Government just five months ago, and we have already secured nearly £630m of our asks.
"This is a strong return in a short space of time for a three-year plan, and shows the Government is listening and understands the critical financial needs of our region.
Extraordinary
"This funding comes on top of more than £6bn spent here by the Government on schemes such as furlough and grants for businesses, plus more money will flow in the coming months through new initiatives like the Job Support Scheme.
"By the end of the year the Government could well be edging towards spending £10bn in the West Midlands thanks to our lobbying efforts, which is an extraordinary level of support.
"I will continue to stand up and make the case to Government to secure the funding the West Midlands needs, and indeed just two weeks ago I helped secure support for our hospitality business in Tier Two coronavirus restrictions – which is worth around £64m a month."
Mr Street said that as well as the £174m referenced in the report the region had landed funding including £100m for retrofitting old homes, £120m for 20,000 Kickstart places, £205m for training support for apprentices, and £20m for further education college repairs.
Mr Byrne said the West Midlands was being "let down and left behind", risking "a pandemic of poverty throughout the winter".
