Downtown in Business says Birmingham and the West Midlands should be one of the key testbeds for the government’s new approach to devolution, investment and regional economic growth.
Following this week’s Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, DIB has welcomed the renewed emphasis from Prime Minister Andy Burnham and senior ministers on shifting power away from Whitehall, reindustrialising the regions and delivering what the government has described as “good growth in every postcode”.
In his first Labour conference speech as Prime Minister, Burnham said he wanted to take the approach developed during his decade as Mayor of Greater Manchester and “drive it from the very centre of Government into every postcode in Britain”.
He also promised to devolve more power to places, giving local leaders greater responsibility for their own economic destiny.
For Downtown in Business, the West Midlands provides an obvious opportunity to demonstrate what that agenda can mean in practice.
The region already has a £2.4 billion Transport for City Regions settlement covering 2027/28 to 2031/32, with government identifying projects including the Birmingham city centre Metro extension towards the new Sports Quarter as having the potential to unlock billions of pounds of private investment.
However, DIB Group chair and chief executive Frank McKenna said the real measure of the government’s devolution agenda would be its ability to translate additional powers and public investment into private-sector confidence, jobs and economic growth.
McKenna said:
“The message coming out of Labour conference is clear. The government wants to move power out of Whitehall, give mayors and city regions greater responsibility, invest in infrastructure and create growth in more parts of the country.
“For Birmingham and the West Midlands, that represents a significant opportunity.
“Greater Manchester has effectively been the laboratory for English devolution for the past decade. The challenge now is to demonstrate that this model can deliver elsewhere, and there are few places better positioned to do that than the West Midlands.
“Richard Parker and the Combined Authority have an opportunity to work with Birmingham and the other local authorities, government and, crucially, the private sector to develop a genuinely ambitious growth programme for the region.
“But devolution cannot simply become an exercise in moving responsibilities and budgets from one part of the public sector to another.
“For business, success will be judged by whether we can get development moving faster, unlock major regeneration opportunities, improve transport and connectivity, tackle skills shortages, build more homes, attract international investment and create an environment in which businesses have the confidence to invest and grow.
“The Prime Minister talks about delivering good growth in every postcode. Birmingham and the West Midlands should be at the front of the queue to demonstrate what that looks like.”
McKenna added that the government’s emphasis on reindustrialisation could be particularly important for the West Midlands, given the region’s established strengths in advanced manufacturing, automotive, professional services, technology and innovation.
He said:
“The West Midlands has extraordinary economic assets. What it has sometimes lacked is the long-term certainty, infrastructure and joined-up leadership required to maximise them.
“There is now an opportunity to bring government, the mayor, councils, universities and business together around a much clearer economic mission.
“The public sector can create the conditions for growth, but ultimately it is businesses that invest, innovate and create jobs. The private sector therefore needs to be in the room from the beginning, not consulted once the decisions have already been taken. If the government is serious about rewiring the British economy and generating significantly more growth outside London, then Birmingham and the West Midlands must be central to that mission.”
