A manifesto for the West Midlands
LABOUR, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have all made big promises about backing the regions of England in their general election manifestos.
But what sort of support does the West Midlands need?
Here are some of the things the next Prime Minister could do to help the region:
Commit to building the HS2 high speed rail line in full – both phase 1 and phase 2 – as soon as possible.
A devolved transport fund. Rather than bidding for funding from central government, the next government should provide significant funding which the region would control and makes decisions about through the West Midlands Ciombined Authority. This would include funding for Metro extensions, rail stations, cycling schemes and bus schemes. (West Midlands Mayor Andy Street’s office reckons the region needs about £750m to finish the Metro - to put this into perspective, London’s Crossrail scheme costs £19 billion).
Commit to building a car battery giga-factory in the West Midlands.
A financial commitment to subsidising the customer adoption of electric vehicles, such as a tax subsidy on the purchase of electric vehicles and investment in charging points.
An affordable housing deal. One of these already exists in London and the Greater London Authority gets
£3.5 billion to subsidise affordable homes. The West Midlands doesn’t get anything. The Government’s justification is that London has a particular problem with unaffordable housing, but parts of the West Midlands are experiencing similar problems.
Support for the West Midlands Combined Authority and Birmingham City’s councils attempts to use the Commonwealth Games as a good place to invest. They are calling this the “Road to Birmingham” but want around £25m from government to help them do it.
Ending the freeze on the Local Housing Allowance, which has been fixed since 2016. This is basically either Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit. Rents have gone up 11 per cent since 2016, and if you are on housing benefit then only two per cent of the rental accommodation is affordable to you. Local Housing Allowance should be increased significantly to cut homelessness.
Allowing the West Midlands to keep more of the tax raised in the West Midlands. Eg airport passenger duty, vehicle excise duty, tax on fuel bills. In Scotland, these are already devolved. This would not mean new taxes.
Devolving the whole post-16 skills budget to the region so Further Education and skills provision can be tailored to the needs of the region.
These proposals focus on improving the region’s economy in the long term and closing the between the West Midlands and the south of England. They don’t touch on a range of important issues such as ensuring schools and hospitals have the funding they need, which are also essential, although not specific to the West Midlands.
So what are the parties’ manifestos actually offering? A brief guide...
Consider the findings of a review of the HS2 high speed rail scheme “and work with leaders of the Midlands and the North to decide the optimal outcome”.
Build the Northern Powerhouse rail line between Leeds and Manchester “and then focus on Liverpool, Tees Valley, Hull, Sheffield and Newcastle”.
Give city regions “the funding to upgrade their bus, tram and train services to make them as good as London’s, with more frequent, betterintegrated services, more electrification, modern buses and trains and smart ticketing”.
Give metro mayors control over rail services in their areas.
Make a £28.8 billion investment in strategic and local roads.
Devolve more powers to every part of England, with a white paper setting out details next year.
Build up the regional offices of government in each of the nine English regions to co-ordinate government policies at the regional level, as well as ensuring a regional voice in Whitehall.
Consult with local communities to reopen branch rail lines.
Complete the HS2 high speed line and extend it to Scotland.
Create a National Investment Bank, backed up by a network of Regional Development Banks, to provide £250 billion of lending for enterprise, infrastructure and innovation over 10 years.
A Local Transformation Fund in each English region will be used to fund infrastructure projects decided at a local level.
Replace the House of Lords with an elected Senate of the
Nations and Regions.
Give local authorities and regions the power to make decisions about their areas.
Introduce a capital £50 billion Regional Re-balancing Programme for infrastructure spend across the nations and regions of the UK, with local and devolved authorities given a say in how it is used.
“Continue to champion investment in the Northern Powerhouse and the Midlands Engine, putting significant capital resources into infrastructure projects across these regions”.