Midlands Engine Strategy launched by Chancellor of the Exchequer

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond was in Dudley on the morning of 9th March as the Midlands Engine Strategy was published.

The strategy includes significant investment in skills, connectivity and local growth and sets out how the government plans to work with us to drive the region’s huge potential and promote the Midlands to the world.

It also includes the formation of a Midlands Trade and Investment Programme, which will include events in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

On the same day the department for International Trade hosts the inaugural Midlands Engine Trade Summit bringing together over 400 delegates from businesses from across the region to help them seize global opportunities and grow their businesses.

The strategy builds on plans set out in the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy and lays out how the government will, amongst other things.

• Invest £392 million 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 £25 million to tackle congestion and improve major employment sites in the Black Country and £12 million to improve road connections around Loughborough. This is in addition to the £1.5 billion of Local Growth Fund investments in the Midlands that have already been announced.

• Invest £20 million 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 £4 million 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 Chancellor said, “The Midlands has enormous economic potential and 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.”

“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.”

Midlands Engine Partnership chairman Sir John Peace said: “All parts of the Midlands already do a great job energising growth, creating jobs, investing in infrastructure, helping people to acquire valuable skills, and promoting their particular assets to attract investment and visitors.

“This strategy represents a clear footprint for the Midlands Engine empowering us to think bigger, and work even closer together, across local economies and on a scale that makes sense in global markets.

“Later this year, we will respond to the government’s strategy by publishing an ambitious vision and action plan so we, together with Government, succeed in unlocking the Midlands’ great potential.”

Download the Midlands Engine Strategy here.