Government unveils how Midlands will be UK’s economic engine room

The government has unveiled its long-awaited strategy aimed at making the Midlands the UK’s economic engine room.

The blueprint is intended to show how the Midlands can reach its full economic potential and buffer it from the fallout of Brexit.

The Midlands Engine Strategy includes significant investment in skills, connectivity and local growth, while it sets out how the government plans to drive the region’s huge potential and promote it to the world.

It builds on plans set out in the Government’s new Industrial Strategy which includes the offer of additional support for industries – including those in the Midlands – through sector deals.

The government has also set out a series of reforms to technical education, backed by an investment of more than £500m, to ensure young people receive the training they need to take on the high-paid, high-skilled jobs of the future and more importantly, to ensure their talent remains in the region rather than luring them away elsewhere.

The strategy sets out how the government will:
•    Invest £392m in the Midlands from the Local Growth Fund. This cash will support innovative projects including creating a global hub for space technology in Leicester and it will also be spent on transport improvements including £25m to tackle congestion and improve major employment sites in the Black Country and £12m to improve road connections around Loughborough. This is in addition to the £1.5bn of Local Growth Fund investments in the Midlands that have already been announced.
•    Invest £20m in a flagship Midlands Skills Challenge to improve employment prospects for people living and working in the region. This will include providing additional work coaches, language training and testing innovative approaches to lifelong learning.
•    Commit an additional £4m to support the operation of the Midlands Engine Partnership over the next two years. The Midlands Engine Partnership brings together Local Enterprise Partnerships, local authorities, businesses, academic institutions and others into a voluntary, regional partnership that will support growth across the Midlands.  
 
The strategy coincides with proposals by Engine constituent Midlands Connect to use £17m to develop transport proposals, which include the potential for up to ten additional trains per hour into central Birmingham.

Today’s announcements, heralded yesterday by Chancellor Philp Hammond in his first Budget, are intended to make the Midlands the heart of the UK’s economic growth.

The Midlands already has huge economic potential. It is home to more than ten million people with an economy worth £217.7bn – 13% of the UK’s annual output.  

From May, the wider West Midlands Combined Authority area will benefit from a directly elected Mayor who will be able to use powers to direct skills, transport and planning to drive local growth.

The establishment of Birmingham as the hub of the new high speed rail network and the headquarters of both HS2 and the National High Speed Rail College are also expected to promote growth.

This is already being purposed with more firms looking to take advantage of Birmingham’s city centre Enterprise Zone to move into offices close to HS2 Ltd, which is based at Two Snowhill.

The Engine strategy also focuses on promoting the Midlands to the rest of the world.

With this in mind, also announced today is the formation of a Midlands Trade and Investment Programme, which will include events in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Coinciding with this, the Department for International Trade today hosts the inaugural Midlands Engine Trade Summit, which brings together 400 delegates from businesses across the region to help them seize new export opportunities and grow their businesses.

Quality of life is also placed at the heart of today’s plans with the Local Growth Fund investing £8m to support the new University in Hereford, £12m to develop Black Country Garden City and £6m to catalyse the regeneration of Derby city centre.

Mr Hammond said: “The Midlands has enormous economic potential and as we lay the foundations of a stronger, fairer Britain outside the EU it is more important than ever that we now build on its existing strengths to make sure it fulfils it.  
                    
“The Midlands Engine Strategy is an important milestone, setting out the concrete actions we are taking, where we are not only investing in what it does well but also tackling some of the long-standing productivity barriers in the region including skills and connectivity.
 
“It is a vital part of the government’s work to create an economy that works for everyone, and all parts of the country.”