New mayor must create deputy to tackle social integration

DEAR Editor, The election on May 4 of the first mayor of the West Midlands offers Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and the whole region a chance to lead the way among new metro mayors.

The newly-elected mayor will play a key role in promoting the region’s priorities.

Alongside economic regeneration, we believe that social integration must also be a key theme for the next administration, so that growth and opportunities in the region are more widely shared. How we live together is a crucial issue for the West Midlands.

We urge the mayoral candidates to agree to the appointment of a deputy mayor for social integration and citizenship – to lead a team that engages across local government, universities and schools, business, civic society groups and citizens to promote a positive agenda for social integration in the region.

The EU Referendum has revealed Britain to be a more anxious and fragmented society than any of us would want.

As the national government prepares to respond to the challenges set out in Dame Louise Casey’s review of integration, it is vital that national policy should be shaped by those working for integration on the ground in the West Midlands and across the country.

We can draw on the experience of cities and regions across Europe and the United States, including the recent appointment of a deputy mayor in London and similar initiatives in Barcelona, New York and Hamburg.

But the West Midlands is unique and needs to develop its own approach to making integration an ‘everybody’ issue.

The first task of the new deputy mayor would be to lead public engagement across the region – to build a consensus around how to make integration work well and to set the priorities for integration during the mayor’s first term. We call on those standing for election as mayor of the West Midlands to support this practical commitment to ensuring that the West Midlands leads the way on integration for the future. Gisela Stuart MP, Andrew Mitchell MP, Sir Tim Brighouse, former Chief Education, Officer for Birmingham Arten Llazari, CEO, Refugee and Migrant Centre Black Country and Birmingham, Sabir Zazai, Chief Executive, Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre, Zubeda Limbada, Director, ConnectFutures Joy Warmington, CEO, brap, Shailesh Solanki, executive editor of Eastern Eye Sunder Katwala, Director, British Future