Powers over transport and infrastructure will help us shape the places of the future. Devolved skills budgets will get the support young people need.
We need the flexibility and support, now common practice in the private sector, for more woman to come forward.
Tougher laws against fraud are welcome. But the police are failing to enforce election law as it stands.
We make it twelve net Conservative council gains, Labour up by three mayoralties…and one LibDem council gain.
We don’t help people when we do it for them; but by helping them to help themselves.
As the Mayor, I will keep taxes low, stop a congestion charge, support business and the police, and deliver the new Northern Forest.
The West of England was a narrow Conservative victory last time. It is likely to be closely fought again.
From the start, I have made it very clear that I am a Mayor for the whole region, not just ‘Greater Birmingham’.
The best way of thinking about it isn’t to fix one’s gaze on direct subsidies, but to look wider – at our failure to turn British ideas into British prosperity.
From reversing the Beeching cuts to pioneering ‘Very Light Rail’, it shows what a Conservative mayor, working with Government, can do.
I very much hope that six years since the corrupt and flawed election, the residents of Tower Hamlets will be able to vote safely and securely.
Through partnership working, we can be more agile in meeting the infrastructure needs of the regions we represent.
By offering strategic support to new industries, the Government can honour its promise to ‘level up’ the nation and turn the UK into a global leader.
We should be asking ourselves what we want from local government in the future, particularly in light of the Covid-19 crisis.
There can be benefits to democracy – and efficiency from reform. But change must come from below – not be imposed from the top.