THE mayor of the West Midlands has issued his verdict on Andy Burnham’s first days as prime minister amid hope ‘No 10 North’ will benefit Birmingham.
Burnham has established No 10 North as the “engine room of devolution and good growth in every postcode” and formally opened the newly created northern office last Friday (24), promising “a different way of running Britain”.
In an interview with Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) last Thursday (23), West Midlands mayor Richard Parker welcomed Burnham’s drive for further devolution, saying, “My role now is to work with the prime minister and his team to ensure that we get more powers here and the ability to spend more of the revenues that we raise in this region, in this region, to improve the lives of people who live here and support businesses that are based here.”
Parker added, “The purpose of [No 10 North] is to drive devolution through the regions and we’re in a great place to benefit from that.
“I know Andy [Burnham] well, I’ve worked with him as mayors for two years.
“He’s got the same commitment and conviction about devolution as I have.
The mayor told the BBC earlier this month that Burnham’s commitment to devolution would allow him to commit more resources into transport, housing, skills and the ‘everyday economy’ in the West Midlands. “I think he’s made a great start,” Parker said last week.
“He’s demonstrated within his first week his commitment and priority to the everyday economy, to lifting some of the cost burden from people’s lives and to addressing cost of living issues.
“When I see him next week for a meeting with other mayors, we’ll be continuing to reinforce the case for greater devolution – it’s a case he believes in.
“We now need to move at pace to deliver that agenda, not just to raise prosperity for the country but also to deliver that aspiration and prosperity for people in Birmingham and the West Midlands too.”
Parker’s comments came as the prime minister announced that pubs, clubs and live music venues in England will get a 20 per cent cut in business rates from April.
The mayor welcomed the move as a “small but important step” – but acknowledged more needs to be done to help businesses in the hospitality industry.
Parker also called on the prime minister to appoint a dedicated minister for the night-time economy in a bid to help the hospitality sector.
“This is a sector critical to our region economy,” Parker said. “It’s important to creating a vibrant life for people and keeps our high streets and town centres alive.
“It’s a sector that’s been under so much pressure and my view is it needs an extra ministerial focus. “I’m doing as much as I can in this region to support the sector.”
He continued that he had put in place a Night-Time Economy Commission, which brings together industry experts, and was also looking at what can be done with the public transport system through “late night buses and trains”. “We’ve seen locally the impact that opening that up railway line in south Birmingham has had on businesses there,” he added. “That demonstrates to me that if we can open up accessibility on our transport system, that will help not just our day time businesses but our night time economy too.”
