Lord Heseltine is a Conservative peer. He is a former Deputy Prime Minister, and was MP for Henley from 1966 until 2001.
Many years ago, when David Cameron asked me how we might more effectively create wealth in the UK, Andy Street was just the sort of leader I wanted to bring to public service.
The ideas I advanced including on how to breathe new life into England’s great cities, as had been done in Liverpool and London’s docklands, led in time to the creation of metro mayors.
Whatever your political persuasion, this has by any measure been a success. Many city regions hitherto mired in partisan political and bureaucratic stasis enjoy strengthening identity and economic momentum as a result of those reforms.
Progress has not been uniform and much has depended on the character of the person in charge. That the West Midlands has emerged as a leader of the devolution pack in my opinion is down in large part to Street himself.
I didn’t know him as well as I do now when I was writing No Stone Unturned: In Pursuit of Growth in 2012. He was, after all, CEO of John Lewis Partnership and occupied with successfully stewarding that great retailer.
Four years later it was my tremendous privilege to present him to Conservative Party conference as a candidate to become mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority. And as I have got to know him so has my conviction grown that he has exactly the character one wants in a public servant.
His qualities – a pragmatism allied to principle, a gift for negotiation, eye for detail and presentational elan – have made him a perfect fit for the role he went on to win at the subsequent election and has retained ever since.
And while I’m delighted he comes from the Conservative tradition this is, in a sense, incidental. The whole point of having strong mayors is that they can transcend the partisan and represent their region rather than party.
It is for this reason that I very much hope the voters of West Midlands consider Street’s record and prospectus first and foremost when they choose who they want to champion them over the next four years.
They ought, in my view, to consider the improvements to transport, to housing and to the region’s economy and reputation that he has brought about. Gains in each of these areas were achieved because the mayor used the power and money available wisely. And because the gains were so evident he won more money and more power from Whitehall to go on making better the everyday things on which people depend.
And whether that was expanding the bus fleet, or tram network or restoring to use historic train stations these improvements were identified and implemented with local knowledge, the very essence of successful devolution.
It is Street’s great ability to work with the grain that has unlocked consent for new housing (especially affordable housing on otherwise derelict brownfield sites) that puts him and the West Midlands so far ahead of the game.
His exceptional business experience, meanwhile, has helped drive investment from all over the world into the West Midland and drive up its skill base, productivity and potential. An astute harnessing of soft power, meanwhile, meant Birmingham was ready for its close-up when, by virtue of hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the world took a fresh look at the West Midlands.
I learned the lessons first-hand how hard one must push to achieve regeneration in the redevelopments of East London and Liverpool. The renaissance of places like Dudley demands great skills and single-minded determination.
Street has proven he has both. The future looks bright, and that delights me and all those like me who see how vital it is to allow talented local leaders to overcome challenges and realise opportunities specific to their region.
It is these gains that I hope will weigh more heavily with voters than any other concerns when it comes to deciding who should be their champion in the years ahead.
The post Michael Heseltine: The West Midlands is leader of the devolution pack – and Street is the man to thank for it appeared first on Conservative Home.
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Author: Michael Heseltine
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