2021 Manifesto FINAL DRAFT - Flipbook - Page 23
My vision
Economy
The scale of the problem is huge.
We need a substantial and
sustained effort to see long-term
transformational change, not just
a couple of new policies.
We have huge areas that have
seen industry decline and little
replace it, and a vicious cycle of
low-skill, low-pay jobs. This has
combined with high levels of ill
health due to these conditions,
worse public services thanks to
central government cuts hitting
these areas hardest, and poor
access to housing and transport
to create a toxic mix that has
trapped whole communities in a
downward spiral.
This impacts every area of our
economy. The fewer people
working in jobs that are paying
decent wages, the less money
there is flowing around the local
economy for everyone. The more
people are ill or in need, the
greater the demand on public
services.
However, it hasn’t always been
this way. Back in 1970, the West
Midlands had the highest relative
household earnings in Britain and
people could hardly remember a
time when unemployment was
above 1%. We enjoyed a highskill, high-pay economy.
And we have an incomparable
history of innovation in the West
Midlands. This is the place that
sparked the Industrial Revolution
that changed the world, where
between 1760 and 1850 three
times more patents were applied
for than by any other area.
Given its history, people, transport
links and geography, the West
Midlands is clearly not in its
natural economic place. It is
within our power to dramatically
increase and improve our current
fortunes.
However, that won’t happen by
using the powers that central
government is giving us just to
carry on doing things in the same
way. It won’t happen by
competing with every other
Combined Authority for the same
pot of inward investment from big
businesses. It won’t happen by
clinging to 20th Century business
practices while the rest of the