West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has pledged to create 425,000 new jobs and training opportunities over the next four years – driven by his ambitious plan for the rate of economic growth in the region to leapfrog London between now and 2030.
And the Mayor pointed to his success since the pandemic – with 100,000 jobs and 135,000 training places created – to say ‘we have shown what we can achieve, now we must be ambitious and take the next step.’
Andy made the pledge as he prepared to release the economic heart of his re-election manifesto, featuring in-depth analysis and proposals for sectors including automotive, advanced manufacturing, construction, tech, health and life sciences, creative, professional services, green industries and hospitality and tourism.
The Mayor added that his jobs pledge – which comprises 125,000 new jobs and 300,000 training opportunities over four years – would be underpinned by booming sectors like tech and life sciences, while generating investment and new opportunities in the broader economy too.
Other economic points in his manifesto include:
- Drive the rate of economic growth in the West Midlands to overtake London between now and 2030.
- Back the ambitious plans for FutureFest, a tech and creative festival with visitors from around the world, driving our leadership in the sector.
- Complete the final stages of negotiations and start construction on the battery gigafactory at Coventry Airport.
- Boost construction by giving firms clearer visibility of the region’s multi-billion-pound pipeline of transport, housing and regeneration projects, and use new powers – such as compulsory purchase – to kickstart stalled projects and speed up the process of building.
- Keep attracting major new inward investments in sectors the West Midlands has existing strengths in, and support local centres, particularly in the Black Country in raising their profile and attracting national and international companies.
- Support the development of new manufacturing space in the West Midlands, using our brownfield remediation and loan funds, including at SPARK in Walsall.
- Back the BBC as they move to their new HQ in Digbeth’s growing creative cluster and boost the sector regionally with new early-stage financing options for small content, creative and gaming companies.
- Support the further development of prime office space, attracting new professional services companies such as in Coventry and Wolverhampton city centres, at the former John Lewis site in Grand Central and at Arden Cross in Solihull.
- Expand financing options for start-ups and scale-ups, using the expertise of regional investors such as Midlands Mindforge, a capital investment company launched by the region’s research-intensive universities.
- Attract major new international investments in the Wolverhampton Green Innovation Corridor Investment Zone.
- Make the most of the arrival of HS2 to attract more jobs from both national firms in London and from international companies.
- Grow tourist and visitor numbers using the Major Events Fund and explore ways to increase their ‘dwell time’ in the region, such as developing a West Midlands pass, to give discounted access to attractions across the region.
Andy said: “At the end of the pandemic, I set a very ambitious target of generating 100,000 new jobs in just two years, a target which we hit. In the same period, we created a staggering 135,000 training places.
“This success illustrated that setting an ambitious target, creating a robust plan and identifying and nurturing opportunities to grow the jobs market works here.
“After all, until COVID struck, this region was the fastest growing outside of the capital. We know what we have to do. We have shown what we can achieve, now we must be ambitious and take the next step to grow our economy faster than London.
“That means creating more high-quality jobs, driven by booming sectors like tech, creative and construction, while offering even more ways for people to have life-changing training, to get new skills and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.
“That’s why I’m pledging to create 425,000 new jobs and training opportunities over the next four years, if I am re-elected.
“To be clear – these aren’t just figures pulled out of thin air, they are ambitious but achievable targets based on what we have already achieved, the sectors here that are showing real growth, projected investmentand population growth too.
“It’s time for ambition. We have new, innovative employers starting up every day, a strong base of foundation industries that are embracing change, an expanding creative community, a construction sector pioneering new ways of building, a blossoming green economy, a pipeline of major infrastructure, big firms that are choosing to move here and a workforce hungry for the training opportunities we can deliver.
“All the ingredients are there to deliver my jobs pledge – and for us to overtake London in terms of rate of growth.”