Digby to advise UKIP candidate if he wins
FORMER business minister Lord Digby Jones will advise UKIP mayoral candidate Pete Durnell should he win, the party has revealed.
Although a cross bench peer and not formally supporting any candidate, Brexiteer Lord Jones has agreed to advise Mr Durnell on business matters.
Mr Durnell said: “As a fellow passionate Brexiteer, Lord Jones shares my vision of the West Midlands prospering through the success of businesses of all sizes, we both believe that only by achieving this will we be able to progress the massive improvements to public services which are so badly needed here.
“It’s essential the new mayor does everything possi- ble to ensure that this happens. A key aspect of this will be removing or overcoming some of the barriers preventing small businesses which are currently only employing a handful of people from expanding into much larger ones.
“Rather than attempting to micro manage the region, Lord Jones also believes that the new mayoral role should be used to ensure that we finally start to receive our fair share of funding from Westminster, and to promote the West Midlands around the world. I could not agree more.
“We also agreed that Brexit will provide a host of opportunities, not just in terms of exports, but will massively increase our ability to attract and retain the best talent from around the world.” He added: “Until we achieve full Brexit the current crazy situation will continue, where we admit unlimited unskilled EU workers into the UK, whilst employing a work visa quota system to keep out large numbers of highly skilled workers from across the globe.
“I firmly believe that the West Midlands is ready to look out to the world and to connect with the world. A second runway for Birmingham airport is an obvious and essential part of this strategy.”
Other candidates for mayor are James Burn (Green), Beverley Nielsen (Libe Dem) Siôn Simon (Lab), Graham Stevenson (Communist) and Andy Street (Conservative).