COMMENT - Easy to forget Mayor is not just for Brum

It's a big deal, as the role will wield substantial power that will oversee a planned £8 billion of investment over the next 30 years, writes Political Editor Peter Madeley.

But listen to some of our national politicians and it's easy to get the impression that the mayor will preside over Birmingham only, despite the fact that the West Midlands Combined Authority also includes Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton among its members.

In recent months I've lost count of the number of times our policy makers have triumphantly referenced a 'Birmingham mayor'.

Jeremy Corbyn is the latest to seemingly forget about the Black Country when he talked about devolution in his closing speech at the Labour Party conference on Wednesday.

After wishing Labour's Liverpool mayoral candidate well for next year's election, he said: "And on the same day we're going to be electing Andy Burnham in Manchester and Sion Simon in Birmingham."

It was the third time a mayor for the second city was mentioned in a public speech during Labour's four-day conference, with Dudley Council leader Councillor Pete Lowe moved to reprimand one senior party member for referencing a Brummie mayor.

He said: "I let him know in no uncertain terms that under no circumstances are we to be referred to as Greater Birmingham."

Earlier this month former Chancellor George Osborne was at it. One of the Government's standard bearers for devolution, Mr Osborne said he had 'sweated blood' to get a mayor for Birmingham.

WMCA board member Councillor Roger Lawrence said it was 'incredibly frustrating' that those on a national level saw fit to ignore the Black Country when talking about devolution.

"We are going to have to keep plugging the message that we are the West Midlands, and not just Birmingham," the leader of Wolverhampton council added.

"It certainly doesn't help when our national politicians keep on getting it so wrong.

"Perhaps Mr Corbyn should ask Tom Watson to explain it to him. We are the West Midlands...read what it says on the tin."

The WMCA mulled over its name for ages before deciding that it better reflected the region covered by the authority.

The option of calling it Greater Birmingham was considered, but thrown out after mass opposition from the Black Country councils.

Councillor Lowe, who also sits on the WMCA board, said: "We fought hard to make sure the authority was not called Greater Birmingham, so the last thing we want is for anyone to call it that."

According to Mr Lowe, the constant Brummie references are borne out of ignorance, with many people from outside the West Midlands failing to understand the fierce regional pride that exists within its confines.

"People in the Black Country find it deeply offensive the idea that hundreds of years of our cultural identity can be subsumed in this way.

"Local identity is vitally important. If anyone asks I'm from Quarry Bank first, then Stourbridge, then the Black Country and then the West Midlands. I'm never from Greater Birmingham."

Mark Langford, a spokesman for the WMCA said the authority wanted to emphasise that the mayor would represent the West Midlands and not just Birmingham.

But it is a message that is clearly taking its time in getting through to the rest of the country.