I'll double cash for councils – Ed Milliband (plus video)
Labour leader Ed Miliband was in the West Midlands today to promise English towns and cities more power than they have had in a hundred years.
During a speech in Birmingham he set out plans to end 'a century of control' by central government by doubling the amount of funding handed out to regions – if the party wins the next election.
Mr Miliband was announcing that he and shadow chancellor Ed Balls had been writing to the leaders of every council, university and Local Enterprise Partnership asking them to draw up joint plans to boost growth and private sector jobs.
Continuing his claim that the country is in the grip of a 'cost of living crisis' he said: "Britain is the country of the Industrial Revolution and Birmingham was one of the great cities of that revolution. But the country of the industrial revolution has ignored the lessons of its own history for far too long: The country that once built its prosperity on the great towns and cities, like Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff, has become a country which builds its prosperity far too much in one city, London.
"We need a prosperous London, but we also need to build prosperity outside it. Today, every region outside London is below the national average when it comes to productivity, while London is 40 per cent above it.
"Britain will never tackle the cost of living crisis and create the new private sector jobs that are essential to doing so unless we break this pattern, reverse a century of centralisation, and change from an economy based on the success of one city to all of our country's great towns and cities: A truly One Nation economy."
Labour also today pledged to introduce Regional Ministers to support regional growth – a role Dudley MP Ian Austin held under Gordon Brown's government.
Mr Miliband's comments come as the Black Country has sought £56 million from Lord Heseltine's £2 billion pot which it will use for major regeneration.
The Black Country's masterplan includes a £20m revamp of Wolverhampton's Civic Halls and the Grand Theatre, a new railway station and work to improve junction 10 of the M6 at Walsall, and new training centres in Halesowen, Dudley and Stourbridge. Mr Miliband added: "Devolving power from Whitehall to our towns and cities is essential to generate the new jobs we need."
