{"id":2114557,"date":"2026-07-21T10:51:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T09:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/?p=2114557"},"modified":"2026-07-21T10:51:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T09:51:31","slug":"west-midlands-mayor-andy-burnham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/news\/2114557-west-midlands-mayor-andy-burnham","title":{"rendered":"West Midlands Mayor presses Andy Burnham for Night-Time Economy Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-start=\"601\" data-end=\"826\">West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to appoint a dedicated Minister for the Night-Time Economy, arguing the sector deserves the same Cabinet-level focus as artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"828\" data-end=\"1039\">The call comes a day after <a href=\"http:\/\/thebusinessdesk.com\/northwest\/news\/2176118-the-vibe-minister-to-ring-the-changes-with-ten-year-plan-to-remake-britain\/\">Burnham<\/a> appointed the UK&#8217;s first cabinet-level AI minister, with Parker urging the Government to give similar recognition to an industry he said supports hundreds of thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1041\" data-end=\"1338\">According to the West Midlands Combined Authority, the night-time economy employs around 324,000 people across the region \u2013 nearly one in four of the workforce \u2013 with around 100,000 working directly in pubs, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, grassroots music venues and other hospitality businesses.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1340\" data-end=\"1480\">Parker wants the role to sit within the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, led by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1482\" data-end=\"1687\">He said: &#8220;Andy Burnham understands the night-time economy. He championed it in Greater Manchester with a Night-Time Economy Commissioner, so he knows what it means to a place and the people who live there.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1689\" data-end=\"1780\">&#8220;Yesterday he gave AI a minister. I&#8217;m asking him to do the same for the night-time economy.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1782\" data-end=\"2038\">&#8220;This is one in four jobs across our region. But more than that, it&#8217;s the cultural lifeblood of our places. The industry has taken a battering from Covid, rising costs and business rates. They need someone in government whose job is to fight their corner.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2040\" data-end=\"2319\">The proposal builds on the recommendations of the West Midlands Night-Time Economy Commission, established by Parker last autumn. The commission&#8217;s report, published in May, called for a national champion to coordinate policy on issues including taxation, licensing and transport.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2321\" data-end=\"2481\">Its recommendations also included extending late-night public transport, improving safety in town and city centres and increasing support for grassroots venues.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2483\" data-end=\"2725\">Parker added: &#8220;We&#8217;re getting on with our part here in the West Midlands \u2013 we&#8217;ve got a plan to address the challenges locally. But a minister in Government would pull the national picture together, so the whole country works to the same plan.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to appoint a dedicated Minister for the Night-Time Economy, arguing the sector deserves the same Cabinet-level focus as artificial intelligence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":284306,"featured_media":2109711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53262,136545],"coauthors":[137138],"class_list":["post-2114557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-local-government","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>West Midlands Mayor presses Andy Burnham for 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