Strong voice is needed to fight for region

WEST Midlands political parties are busy selecting candidates to be mayor for the region, with Labour’s Siôn Simon being the first to be chosen. The rest will follow very shortly.

Irrespective of political allegiance, what the West Midlands requires is a strong voice that will help to ensure the Government does not overlook us when doling out assistance and a person who will sell the area.

Boris Johnson was liked and disliked in equal measure during his stint as mayor of London but even his critics agree that he did a very good job selling London as the place to do business and the city to visit.

Now, that is exactly what the new West Midlands mayor will have to do. Otherwise we will miss out on opportunities across the broad spectrum of commerce, tourism and infrastructure development.

Already, Labour has selected Andy Burnham, the current shadow home secretary, as their candidate for Greater Manchester and the bookies have indicated he is a firm favourite.

Liverpool socialists have in turn chosen Steve Rotherham, another politician with strong views about the North West in general.

These two individuals will be fighting tooth and nail to squeeze every penny out of the Government and will try to alter policies to their way of thinking.

By way of illustration, they are demanding that HS3 is built before HS2.

So it is essential for the West Midlands that the person elected to the new position as mayor must be prepared to fight with even greater determination and the team that she/he chooses to assist must be prepared to market the West Midlands as never before, for we have so much to offer.

Birmingham itself is a city of a thousand trades which over the past 30 years seems to have been forgotten by governments.

Recent talk has all been about the Northern Powerhouse.

Well, the Midlands needs to be treated in exactly the same way.

Manufacturing in particular needs investment and I sincerely hope that, with Brexit, the Government will actually start removing stifling red tape, instead of just talking about doing it. Russell Luckock is chairman of Birmingham pressings

firm AE Harris