WEST MIDLANDS mayor Andy Street says the new Prime Minister has personally assured him she is committed to levelling up.
In an exclusive interview with GB News, Mr Street said Liz Truss had repeatedly set out her support for the policy – and underlined it during a meeting they shared at the Commonwealth Games.
Speaking to Gloria De Piero, Mr Street also explained that he wanted Ms Truss to use her first days in office to bring about internal peace within the party.
He told GB News: “I think two things stand out in terms of what we want to hear. The first, an internal peace would be about inclusivity, bringing all of the party together, and then ultimately, of course, to try to bring the country together because we’ve had a very divided time.
“And then the second word I want to hear time and time again is levelling up.
“I know we’ve got an immediate crisis over energy costs, I want her to deal with that. But I want to make absolutely certain that the momentum around levelling up is right at the top of her agenda.”
He added: “It hasn’t been spoken as much in the campaign but I’m actually not worried because I’ve got very firm commitments from Liz Truss.
“I met her at the Commonwealth Games, had a good debate about it, we’ve had email, letter exchanges, and I am certain that she is utterly committed to maintaining the government’s priority around levelling up.
“So I’m expecting a new secretary of state to be appointed and some of the key things, whether it be HS2, whether it be the investment zones she’s talked about, big infrastructure projects, economic projects for the West Midlands, so I’m very confident they will go ahead.”
Asked if she was appointing her own allies rather than making the most of talent across the party, he said: “I’m expecting that some who were not necessarily with her right from the start but maybe came on board later on in the campaign.
“And so if they were not on board they’ll still have important jobs in the Cabinet, so we hear of Kemi Badenoch, we hear about Tom Tugendhat, who’s got a lot of my values there.
“I am very confident that there will be within the cabinet, voices who will make sure this genuinely represents the whole of the Conservative Party and that would be a very important first step for the Prime Minister to demonstrate that bringing together ability.”
Mr Street said that a contact worth £370 million had been signed to build a high speed rail station in the region: “It’s good a news story today, as HS2 has announced that Laing O’Rourke would be building the interchange station in Solihull, which isn’t just a station, it’s sort of the centre of a an economic development there.
“3,000 homes will take the pressure off the greenbelt elsewhere in Solihull borough, so a really good news story today. 1,000 jobs are critical and we will be making sure that they are given to local people.
“Indeed, we’ll be working with the contractors as we already are with Balfour Beatty, for example, to train local people, unemployed people specifically, for jobs on HS2.”
