West Midlands to get special treatment – Cable

BUSINESS Secretary Vince Cable has revealed the new coalition government has “singled out” the West Midlands, North West and Humberside & Yorkshire for special treatment due to the specific economic difficulties they face.

Speaking to TheBusinessDesk.com during a visit to Birmingham, Mr Cable said that while the future of regional development agencies in the areas had yet to be resolved, the three regions would be treated as special cases.

Talking about the structure the new Local Enterprise Partnerships – the bodies the coalition has said will replace the current RDA network – Mr Cable said funding for certain areas would be protected because of the problems they faced.

However, he said the government did not have an open chequebook and warned that funding would be tightly controlled.

He said: “The point we make is that even where budgets are under pressure – and they will be – we will take into account that some parts of the country have difficulties and for historic reasons the West Midlands is one of the four areas we have singled out, along with the North East, North West and Humberside & Yorkshire.

“We recognise that they have special problems and therefore the Government has an obligation to try and support them as much as possible.

“However, it’s not a question of me coming here and promising more money because that would be dishonest and inaccurate.”

“The discussion (on the new LEPs) has to take place in the context of government spending in general and spending within this area will be under enormous pressure,” he added.

Regarding the new structure for economic development, he said there were two points to make.

“Firstly, the old system (RDAs) will go and will be replaced with LEPs. If for example Birmingham City Council wants to form a partnership that could be one way or councils and chambers of commerce from across a region could come together and do something on a regional basis,” he said.

The Minister said that if a specific development agency proved popular or successful then it would receive special consideration.

As an example, he said that if Advantage West Midlands proved to be a popular institution then something like it would remain in place in the revised set-up, although not necessarily in the same form.

“It’s up to people in the region to signal the type of structure they want,” he said.
He also said the support of the business community for the new initiatives would be vital.

“This is a business initiative and the business community has a crucial role to play. In an era when the public sector is having to be cut back, private sector growth will provide the future employment opportunities,” he said.

He promised that where the government could help business, it would and he pledged to support firms in overcoming some of the barriers to growth, especially with the banks.

“We will make bank credit flow again and I have a responsibility along with the Chancellor, to try and make banks more supportive.

“We want to create a business environment that’s helpful,” he said.

He said a new initiative being developed at Birmingham Metropolitan College where electronics giant Samsung has sponsored a new academy to help develop skills was one of the ways forward.

“Businesses need new skills and this (the academy) is a good illustration of what we are trying to achieve and why we are making sure there are more apprentices now than less,” he added.