West Midlands Mayor Andy Street officially launches his manifesto at the new Walsall Energy from Waste Facility
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00:00 Right, good morning everybody. I hope the microphone is working and you can all hear me clearly.
00:05 Yes. Yes, lovely. Okay, so first of all just to add my thanks indeed to McAuliffe and to Encyclist for
00:12 offering us the opportunity to launch our manifesto, as Andrea said, in a rather unusual place.
00:17 And of course the team from Walthall who worked with the investors here to make all of this.
00:22 So, my pitch today, quite straightforward.
00:25 In deciding whether or not to reapply and indeed hopefully be successful in retaining my job,
00:32 we need to go back to the beginning of the story and see how it's gone so far.
00:38 In the early years of my mayoral team we did get the West Midlands to the point where we had the fastest growing regional economy outside London.
00:46 We know Covid hit us very hard, but the good news is over the last few years we've bounced back really well.
00:54 We've met our pledge of 100,000 new jobs in just two years.
00:58 We have achieved, as Andrea implied, record private sector inward investment.
01:02 Lots of people betting on the West Midlands.
01:05 We have now delivered the best qualified workforce this region has ever seen.
01:09 And with all the negotiation that I've led we've brought in, as the sign says there,
01:13 £10 billion of additional investment from government.
01:17 We've smashed our housing target, both our total housing target and indeed our affordable housing target.
01:24 We're now well on the way to delivering our 2040 transport plan and schemes that people have long talked about, said would never happen.
01:32 They will be opening this year, whether it be the Camp Hill line in South Birmingham or indeed the Metro extension to Dublin.
01:40 And we did last year, all the leaders coming together, achieve our landmark devolution deal,
01:46 which of course gives us so much to build on in the next term.
01:50 So as it says behind me, lots has been done.
01:54 It's probably worth also a little personal reflection on how that has been achieved.
02:00 And of course it's true that it's been the honour of my life to do this job and to lead this region.
02:06 This job is a leadership job and indeed to champion the region.
02:11 I think I've always done it with honesty and integrity because values really shine through in leadership roles.
02:17 I've learnt lots how to deal with London. Not always easy, but I will always in my dealings with London put the West Midlands first.
02:25 It is place before party, as we say.
02:28 And I've learnt how to get stuff done.
02:30 People always say to me, Andy, you're a chap who makes things happen.
02:33 You learn how to do that. And I've learnt, of course, how to do that by building on all my experience of running a private business in John Lewis.
02:41 And most importantly, what we have done has been at no cost to any taxpayer in the West Midlands.
02:48 It says there, eight years in a row, no mayoral tax.
02:52 So that's how we've gone about it.
02:54 But as it also says behind me, there is a lot more still to do.
02:59 And that's why I've decided to apply again, to build on all the momentum we have and indeed to use everything that we have learned.
03:08 It's not the time for a big change in direction as there are deep challenges in this region.
03:13 The first that I might just pull out is the lack of and the state of social housing, particularly in some areas of the region.
03:21 It's a big question about how we embrace technological change, fight climate change.
03:26 There are really important local issues, for example, road safety, overwhelmingly in Birmingham.
03:32 And then there is the issue of how we revive our high streets across the region.
03:37 And it all has to be done in a way which addresses the consistent issue of equality and indeed inequality across the region.
03:45 So that's the backdrop of today, me launching my manifesto.
03:49 It's all here. You've got it on the QR codes.
03:52 It builds on the momentum we've got. It fulfills the potential of the region.
03:56 And of course, it addresses those toughest challenges.
04:00 It's comprehensive, it's detailed and it is funded.
04:04 There isn't a single thing in here which is an unfunded pledge.
04:08 149 pages. That's what I mean about comprehensive.
04:12 There are a number of clear, tough priorities.
04:15 First one, jobs and skills.
04:17 We commit to 425,000 new jobs and training opportunities during the next mayoral term.
04:25 It's based on our current trajectory, where we are now.
04:29 It is not a number pulled out of thin air.
04:31 Under the economy, we commit to matching London's rate of growth.
04:36 How do we do that? By turbocharging our tech sector, which is already the fastest growing in the country.
04:42 And getting behind the other growth sectors, whether it be life sciences, indeed.
04:46 Or, indeed, our creative sector.
04:48 On transport, the commitment is very clear.
04:50 Build out that 2040 map that someone was holding in the photograph there.
04:55 We've already built a war chest that Mike will be spending, I know, 6 billion of war chests already built through our negotiations.
05:03 So new projects, whether they be metro, whether they be train, whether they be rapid bus or indeed cycle.
05:08 And at the same time, making it easy for everyone to use the network, get access to the opportunities
05:13 by introducing the most modern, comprehensive fare capping system across the whole country.
05:19 Even better than Oyster in London.
05:22 On housing, the big ticket item is really clear.
05:24 We sustain our progress of being the only region to achieve our housing targets, that 20% affordable.
05:29 And we've doubled down and it's why we're here, on this brownfield remediation issue.
05:34 And we protect our greenbelt, particularly across the Blackpool.
05:38 And then on high streets, we've actually built a war chest there as well.
05:42 A billion pounds we've negotiated with central government and CA money.
05:46 The real issue now is we've got to make sure that's invested to make visible change happen
05:51 whilst we protect our heritage from the exemplar of the city centre regeneration in Coventry
05:57 to each of the small high streets across the Blackpool.
06:01 And we've got to step into new areas as well, things the combined authority has not done thus far.
06:06 Other areas where indeed others have failed.
06:09 And the best example of this of course is social housing building.
06:12 A clear commitment today to triple the rate of social housing building.
06:17 And we can do that again because of the negotiation last year
06:21 to get our hands on £400 million of the affordable housing programme.
06:25 We're stepping into careers. We've done lots around skills.
06:28 But there's a clear commitment in my manifesto to investing careers advisors in the toughest schools in the region
06:33 to make sure we address that question of opportunities for the least advantage.
06:38 And then retrofit. We're also a clear commitment to be national leaders in the task of retrofitting our homes.
06:45 And that gets us to the sweet spot of addressing climate change but also addressing fuel poverty at the same time.
06:52 So some new areas for us to get stuck into.
06:55 Two themes dominate how we will go about this.
06:59 And the first theme is a focus on delivery.
07:03 A common point between a lot of this is we've done a lot of hard work in the last term
07:07 building up those war chests, winning the funding, winning the confidence.
07:11 What citizens now want to see is getting on at pace and making change happen.
07:16 And that's why we'll have a new organisation, we'll call it our Transport Acceleration Unit
07:22 to make sure we deliver these big transport projects on time and on budget.
07:27 And then in the black country to the issue of high streets
07:30 we will have a new Black Country Regeneration Commissioner to work with all of our local authorities
07:35 always with the local authorities to make the change happen.
07:39 The second big theme is of course about sound financial management.
07:44 Without that you do not achieve anything.
07:47 And dare I say look no further than Birmingham City Council to see the truth of that.
07:51 In contrast we have very sound financial management and we will continue with the commitment of
07:57 eight years no mayoral tax. I have no intention of introducing one in the next term.
08:02 And lastly we've chosen, and it's all in here, a number of creative ideas,
08:07 sort of new things that I think might turn a few heads.
08:10 I'll just choose four of them this morning to cover but they're all in there.
08:13 The first is we talked about the importance of the tech sector to really propel our leadership there
08:18 and fill the gap that is the opportunity for somewhere in Europe to match what is done in Austin, Texas
08:25 with an incredible annual convention bringing technology, creative, music, design all together.
08:30 They call it South by Southwest. We will match that in what we are going to call Future Fest.
08:35 Secondly, a particular idea I really love, HS2 have got all these hall routes at the moment
08:41 where you actually access the works. We will make that a mega cycle route from Birmingham to Coventry in the next term.
08:48 And then we talked about first impressions counting, a first impressions fund for community groups to apply for
08:56 to make visible changes to how their immediate environment looks.
09:00 Building on all the success we've had with the Commonwealth Legacy Fund around the Inclusive Communities Fund.
09:06 And then lastly, as football teams across this region really do regain their original leading status
09:13 and I won't mention all of them but one of them of course is playing tonight.
09:17 I know Brian, one of them is playing tonight.
09:19 So we will have a match day travel task force to make sure on the back of their success
09:24 we are making the whole travel arrangement to games as easy as possible.
09:28 So ladies and gentlemen, some key themes, some very big deliverables, building on everything we have achieved
09:34 but I hope what you take from today is there is an enormous amount still to do
09:39 and the Conservative team across this region is absolutely up for delivering for citizens once again.
09:44 Thank you very much indeed.
09:46 [applause]