‘I want every part of the West Midlands to prosper’ – West Midlands Mayor talks to business leaders at Black Country round table event ahead of Budget
Richard Parker, who was elected as Mayor last year, talked about his ambitions for the West Midlands and the Black Country highlighting his priorities around investment and skills, housing and the transport system at the event held at Richardson HQ in Oldbury on Friday November 7.
He also spoke about how the region showcased itself to international investors at the government’s ‘Regional Investment Summit’ held in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on October 21, which was attended by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, saying it had received “fantastic feedback” from international investors, national politicians and civil servants in London.
He also shared more information about his ‘West Midlands Works’ plan which aims to get 93,000 unemployed people into work over the next 10 years and took questions from invited guests from key businesses in the region who quizzed him on various topics including his views on AI, how businesses can manage rising energy costs and how the government can help speed up lengthy planning processes to get developments built faster.
The Labour Mayor said he was “pleased” to have a candid discussion with business leaders in the region and he said: “It’s so important for me as Mayor to be out listening to our businesses to hear about not just the concerns they have but also their plans for the future and in particular how I can help businesses in the region succeed.
“Listening to and acting on their experiences is vital to the economic growth of the West Midlands.”
Speaking exclusively to the Express & Star afterwards, he said the Black Country is a key part of the region and it’s growth plans and he added: “It’s got a fantastic industrial business base but frankly since we deindustrialised it’s suffered more than any other part of the West Midlands.
“I want every part of the West Midlands to prosper and succeed and I want young people in the Black Country to have the opportunity they do elsewhere. What we’re doing investing in the region is not just to help the businesses here but to help young people too. I talked about the investment in construction skills we’re making and visited Dudley College in Brierley Hill and that will give 12,000 young people access to training and skills and careers in construction that otherwise wouldn’t have been available to them.”
He also told of plans to bring the region’s buses back into public ownership and how he aims to reshape the bus network and integrate it with rail and Metro services to reduce travel times, get more people using public transport, to help drive up business productivity.
Regarding the upcoming Autumn Budget, he said he does not know the details of changes on the cards and he added: “The Chancellor and her team know that growth is our priority and we must do everything we can to unlock growth.
“I’ve got a really good relationship with the government. Sometimes we have difficult conversations but I’ve worked in business all my life. I know how to get things done and to get the best deal for this region.”
He thanked the team at Richardson for hosting the event, adding: “The Richardson family regularly hosts forums for business leaders, as well as national, regional and local politicians at their West Midlands HQ, to look at promoting the wealth creation sector in the region. The family continues to back management teams across the UK and internationally who are looking to grow their businesses by injecting capital for growth.”
Martyn Richardson, who hosted the event, said: “We are very grateful to Richard for spending time with us and other business leaders from the Black Country.
“It’s vital that politicians hear directly from local businesses about the current economic landscape and some of the challenges they are facing, so they can help inform policies moving forward. So we were particularly pleased that Richard spent time with us and will feed back to government.”
