The Midlands A Mayor for...

There are exactly two weeks to go until the West Midlands chooses

its first directly elected mayor.

Potentially, the most influential local politician

since Joseph Chamberlain became mayor of Birmingham almost

a century and a half ago.

So, who get your vote?

All six candidates aiming for the top job with this tonight.

And so too is our studio audience, ready with

the questions for our debate.

A Mayor for the West Midlands.

APPLAUSE.

Good evening.

Welcome to Birmingham's Ormiston Academy.

So, there's an election on.

No, not the general election, we have our own big one right

here for our West Midlands metro mayor and I'm delighted to tell you,

we're joined here this evening by all six of the candidates.

For the Greens, James Burn.

For Ukip, Pete Durnell.

For Labour, Sion Simon.

For the Conservatives, Andy Street.

For the Liberal Democrats, Beverley Nielsen.

And for the Communists, Graham Stevenson.

And that, everybody, is your panel tonight.

And you at home can join in our debate as well on social

media, using the hashtag that's on your screen now.

Let's begin with our first question tonight and it

comes from Graham Slater.

Your question.

Good evening.

Do we need a metro mayor, or is it just another expensive

level of bureaucracy?

Sion Simon, you stood down from parliament in order to fight

for an earlier mayoral role and you know, you've heard

the evidence of referendums and the rejection in Stoke,

there's no great appetite, as we heard here from Mr Slater.

The most important thing isn't that we have a metro mayor,

the most important thing is that we run our own region.

What this needs to be and it can be if we do it right,

what this needs to be is part of a process of taking back control,

real control, real power, from the London government that has

real control, real power, from the London Government that has

let is down for 40 years in the West Midlands,

and finally starting to run the West Midlands ourselves.

Running our own transport system, our own housing,

our own health and social care, our own education and skills policy.

We can do all that much better by doing it ourselves.

The way that the Government has set out for us to do

that is they are giving as a mayor.

That isn't actually the most important thing.

In terms of the cost, what I've said is at the end of three years,

I'll publish an independently audited super scrutinised report

which sets out exactly how much it cost and exactly what's been saved

and exactly how much has been generated and if we have got

and exactly how much has been generated and if we haven't got

a massive surplus and outstanding value, then I will consider

myself to have failed and I won't stand again.

Peter Durnell, your party was in line with Mr Slater's idea

for quite some time, thinking that it was an expensive

indulgence, a vanity project, devolution from the people

to the establishment, said one of your MEPs.

So, why have you changed your mind?

We don't believe this is true devolution.

In the form that it setup now.

We have a big issue with the authority, rather

than the mayor position.

I said I'll only take 30,000.

I'm not in it for the money.

It is expensive, so I'm actually looking to keep control of the cost

It is expensive, so I'm actually looking to keep control of the cost

of the combine authority which has been running since last summer,

14 million just to set it up.

Who knows how many million per year it's already costing?

I don't believe that it will actually generate the money

in itself to actually pay for itself.

So, I'm saying...

Why run?

One of the reasons that I'm running is absolutely to keep

control of those costs, to let you know what it's doing.

If you walk down the street, almost no one would be able to tell

you what the combined authority is, how it works, how it's running,

how it's self scrutinising itself, all these things.

One of the reasons I'm running is that.

There are a lot of reasons but that is one of them.

James Burn, you also said...

APPLAUSE.

You also have said that she would live

on something more like a typical West Midlands income.

Isn't that just a piece of gesture politics on your part?

Not at all.

In 2012, people in Coventry and Birmingham voted

against having a mayor and now they have their that they didn't

against having a mayor and now they have a mayor that they didn't

want and didn't vote for.

One thing that is really clear from all the hustings that we have

done is people don't want a mayor.

Mayors can work but the difference between here and in London

is when you vote for a mayor in London, on the same day you vote

for assembly members to speak up for every single area of the whole

region to hold that mayor to account and make sure that mayor is working

for you and for your benefit, you're not going to

have that vote here.

Here, you're going to have a mayor, he'll be held to account

by colleagues of the people running the authority, will meet handful

of times a year with no opposition politicians there at all.

It's a real scandal.

So, a mayor could work and can work but we need more accountability

and more scrutiny and more honesty.

APPLAUSE.

Beverly Nielsen, where talking to people who believe

it is an extra level of unwanted bureaucracy.

Well, I've lived and worked here for 20 years and in that time

I've seen this region overlooked by both the Conservatives

and the Labour Party because I noticed that Sion says,

this is about the London government, he says, letting us down,

but actually it's the Labour Party and the Conservative Party

that have let us down.

What we need is, yes, our fair share.

We need investment, not cuts but what were not hearing

from the Conservative Party is where getting 4 billion

more cuts for 2020.

If were going to fight the cuts, get the investment, we need a strong

voice and we need to make sure that the opportunities are heard.

Would you then take home the full ?79,000 pay packet,

given the austerity that you are saying is all around us.

I don't think it's an extravagant salary, actually.

It's three times average earnings.

It's the average wage for a mayor in America and, actually,

if we really want to get this job done, let's take it seriously.

You're accused there of letting the region down, your party,

you say you would work on performance related pay.

The question we should answer first of all is do we need a mayor

and the categoric answer is yes.

One of the reasons why this region has done relatively poorly over

the last 40 years is that we have not had somebody championing

the region around Britain and around the world.

For the first time, will have an individual

who is responsible for doing that and, if I may say, it's

the Conservative government that has begun to pass power back

to the regions.

What about this suggestion of yours of performance-related pay

which suggests to me a more business mind than a political mind.

And isn't it the job of the electorate decide

whether your good value for money or not?

Of course it is, and that's why I have indicated in my renewal plan

the things we will achieve in our first three years and I'm

accountable for that.

I've also said, though, I'm prepared to put some skin in the game,

in terms of some of my pay being on the table, depending

on the results we achieve.

Graham Stevenson.

If you want a man to do the job, it's often said, get somebody

who doesn't really want to do it.

Like many people, I campaigned against the directly elected mayor,

mainly for the reason, we already have already have

government in the West Midlands, we already have councils,

council leaders, this isn't an extra layer of government,

it's an extra layer of fog, designed to create a circumstance

whereby leaders of local councils can do deals with a Chancellor

of the Exchequer operating under austerity government guidelines

in order that they can carry out cuts to welfare and social services

just as they are continuing to do.

I'm standing because I want to campaign against that.

I want to abolish that.

I want to create people's assemblies in every borough so there's a much

more connected kind of democracy between the professional politicians

and ordinary people.

APPLAUSE.

Can I just quickly ask you about the salary.

The 79,000 because some people obviously feel it's too much.

Yet, if you look at the relativities, it's considerably

less than the one suggested for the mayor of Manchester,

certainly much less than the Mayor of London.

Less than the police and crime commission,

which is rather curious, I think.

I don't think politicians should set their own pay,

I think there should be an independent body that sets

the pay and whatever they say is the pay,

I'll take it.

Let me just come back on Graham say, in case people think it's true,

that we already have government in the region.

We don't already have government in the region.

We don't run our own education system.

We don't run our own schools.

We don't run our own skill centres.

We don't have control over our health and our social care.

We don't run any of these things.

And they are huge problems.

We can fix them if we are allowed to fix them ourselves and that's

what this is all about.

Quick word from the audience.

The gentleman in the second row here.

There's been a lot of blame on the Conservatives for this

but only one member of the panel in front of us has actually

been in government.

Why wasn't the power given back when you have the chance

and were in office?

Also, very quickly, sorry you're putting

in the average salary is 28 grand.

I'm nowhere near on ?28,000.

It's not an average salary.

Sorry.

Final word from Mr Slater on this because you asked this question.

What you make of what you've heard?

I still think it's just a waste of money.

And when it comes to casting my vote I'm going to spoil my paper

and write across it "No mayor, please".

And that's going to be it.

Isn't that a great waste of an opportunity that you've got here.

It sends a message back.

I tell you, when they come the votes you may well find

that the overwhelming majority will be spoilt papers and,

if that's the case, that message will go back to central government

and they'll say, look, we do not want a mayor here.

Anybody have any sympathy for this argument that we don't

really need this mayor?

It's unwanted.

Yes.

The county council look after the whole of the West Midlands

from 1974 until it lasted in 1986 and it was closed down

because central government didn't like the way

they were spending the money.

Who's going to stick up for the role of having an elected mayor?

Lady on the front row here.

I think we should have the elected mayor, especially with the Brexit

negotiations because we need somebody who can travel to Europe,

the rest of the world and really sell Birmingham

and the West Midlands and get inward investment into the region.

OK.

Right, well, we've heard that the opening positions,

if you like, from each of the candidates and, indeed,

from some people in the audience giving a take on this

new mayoral role.

But in which parts of the region will he or she be responsible for?

Who exactly can vote in this election?

And how precisely will the new leader be able to shape

people's day-to-day lives?

Elisabeth Glinka now considers the prospects.

There's no gold chain.

And it's not about opening school fetes.

This mayor will be a directly elected politician making decisions

that impact the lives of three million people.

Two million will be eligible to vote.

Think Giuliani, think BoJo, this person will represent us

to the rest of the country and even the rest of the world.

The metro mayor will cover seven metropolitan boroughs.

Dudley.

Solihull.

Sandwell.

Walsall.

Wolverhampton.

Coventry.

Birmingham.

And the people of those boroughs have different ideas

about what the priority should be.

I think it's important to focus on training for young people.

I think in proving the railway will be a real good step forward.

I think we need more smaller housing.

Somebody really needs to grab the bull by the horns

and say to the world, here we are, guys, come and see us.

It's a big job with some big responsibilities.

Overseeing the budget worth ?8 billion over 30 years.

They'll be responsible for training at colleges and also

for apprenticeships.

Housing will also fall to them.

Including compulsory purchase powers.

And they'll control the region's transport budget, with final say

over bus franchises, roads, and trams.

In greater Manchester, the elected mayor will also take over the job

of the Police Commissioner and responsibility for

health and social care.

It's hoped that here in the West Midlands,

the mayor could also get these powers after the next

election in 2020.

The election takes place on May the 4th and it's

using the supplementary voting system which means that

as well as your first choice, you also get a second preference.

Whomever wins, building a reputation and the standing

of the West Midlands has got to be key amongst their priorities.

Yes, it's one starting pistol after another

at the moment, isn't it?

Let's get on to our next question which comes from Mohammed Arlene

and it's from transport.

Your question?

Evening, panel.

Investing in transport is fundamental if we are to get

West Midlands moving again.

What are your plans, including reducing congestion,

especially on our motorways and your views about

nationalising the M6 toll?

Right, well, Andy Street, you've said that congestion

in the West Midlands is dreadful, or appalling.

I'm not sure that restarting the super Prix Road race

would improve congestion in Birmingham but what's your

solution to the obvious gridlock in our part of the world?

So, the long-term answer has to be about investing in public transport.

We've got to get people out of their cars and give

them an alternative.

So, we've talked about reopening disused railway lines,

we've talked about extending the Metro, and we've talked

about genuine boss prioritisation.

about genuine bus prioritisation.

But the real question underlying all this is how we going to get

the funds necessary to do that?

And I would put it to you, if you look at the failure of this

region over the last few decades, the local Labour leadership has

not won the investment to invest in our transport.

I am going to be able to get that investment.

That is my my clear commitment.

I want voters to think who is most able to win that

investment for our region.

So, it's a reproach to your party, the local decision-makers here.

I'm glad that Andy has been a bit more party political than usual.

He normally presents itself as an independent

but you're not an independent.

A Tory.

And it's because he's a Tory that he opposes

the nationalisation of the M6 toll.

Business across the West Midlands is in favour of it.

It is a no-brainer.

Congestion costs, according to Greater Birmingham

and Solihull Chamber of Commerce, West Midlands businesses

at least 2 billion a year.

Black Country Chambers of commerce, they say it's their number one

priority and it is a fact that if the government nationalised

the M6 toll and made it free, that would take tens of thousands

of vehicles a day of our motorways and local roads

in the West Midlands.

And he doesn't want to do it because the Tory government

in London doesn't want to pay the one off 1 billion pounds,

although they announced this week they've got ?6 billion for roads

in the south of England.

It is typical.

APPLAUSE.

Pete Durnell, Ukip called for a while for nationalisation

of the M6 toll but you've gone in for some toned down

version of that, just subsidising HGVs, haven't you?

That was actually a little while ago and I've spoken to a few people

who actually took me all through the statistics.

So, I've actually change that position.

My position is, it's always been Ukip's policy that we want

that road nationalised.

We don't agree with toll roads.

We think all roads should be free for everyone to use.

What I have said since then is, if I had ?1 billion, or 2 billion,

people disagree how much it would cost.

And you gave that to me, it probably wouldn't

be my number one priority.

To spend it all on the M6 toll road.

I would look at a lot of pinch points across the region

as a priority, rather than that because, bluntly speaking,

round about peak times 90 - 95% of HGVs already use the M6 toll.

It will have benefits that it's not going to solve

our congestion problem.

Graham Stevenson, do you think public ownership is the fundamental

answer to our problems?

I do.

I've always said a Communist is a socialist who really means

what he says and I read Mean what I say I say that I want to not

only nationalised the M6 but also bring into public ownership,

owned by the local council, every single bus company

in the West Midlands.

Now, you don't need to pay huge sums of money to nationalise the M6 toll.

We could do what government did in 1946, the departing Chancellor

of the Exchequer only paid off the last bit of it quite recently.

The bank of England was bought by providing low interest long-term

bonds, that could be done in this case.

We wouldn't have to pay a penny now, we could defer it till later.

We're against toll roads, we're against making people pay

twice to use something that they already pay for.

APPLAUSE Just on driving the multimodal shift,

the first thing is, we have perfectly good plan for transport

for the West Midlands it is massively underfunded,

even with the additional monies coming through that

devolution package.

We need about 700 million a year more than we are receiving

in order to be competitive.

The Conservative government that hasn't given is that funding over

the past term of this government is responsible for this,

can give us the money and can find at the drop of the hat the money,

22 billion, to get the access into Heathrow.

APPLAUSE Tricky issue this, isn't it for you, James,

given that, obviously, transport has an environmental cost

and, yet, we've got the cost of the congestion that

we're all agreed is such a block on economic development.

How do you square the circle and find an affordable answer?

Absolutely.

It's a real problem because congestion doesn't just

cost businesses money for being stuck in traffic.

Actually, it's causing gigantic levels of air pollution,

we're seeing about 3000 people in our region every year dying early

because of air pollution.

The simple fact is, we do not have a good enough public transport

system that most people can use every day.

We do not have that.

We need more funding.

I respect a lot of what Andy says but I would see it very

differently around funding.

We voted in a government who said they would cut funding

and that's what they've done.

There isn't a magic pot of money.

Until 2030, over the life of this combined authority deal,

they are saying we will give you ?7 billion.

At the same time, will be ?37 billion worse off

because of government cuts.

The money is not there.

This is a real problem.

No matter who is mayor, government is not going to give out free money.

We've heard a lot about the toll road.

Specifically, can I just pursue for your position

on how you stand on that?

I think I would open the toll road when there

is congestion and traffic, perhaps on the M6, but if I think

it's ?1 billion there's better things to do,

for example there's 115 kilometres of railway lines that are disused

throughout the entire region.

They run alongside and near roads.

People like going on trains.

So, let's use that money to reopen those disused railway lines and get

people moving within the region.

APPLAUSE.

The concentration on the M6 toll is understandable, given

the impact of traffic congestion.

Is it an example of market failure here?

Government failure and market failure together?

No.

We've got to look at actually what the real issue is here.

The issue is very clear.

The issue is people travelling to destinations

within the conurbation, not travelling around

the conurbation.

So, I'll absolutely clear, every investment decision

as about a choice.

It is not the right use of the money to nationalise the M6 toll

and we should actually subsidise people travelling around our

and actually subsidise people travelling around our

conurbation not into destinations within the West Midlands.

Let me be clear, Patrick, I'm certainly not saying

that we in the West Midlands should pay for that road.

The government should nationalise that road precisely

because it is people going around the West Midlands...

I'm going to bring the audience in at this point.

There is a gentleman on the back row over there who has been trying

for some time to get in.

Is it on this question of public ownership?

Nationalising or even the re-nationalising,

as Jeremy Corbyn wants to do with public transport,

is breaking EU law, is it not?

How much of a problem is that going to be?

So, if you wanted to renationalise the M6 toll road,

or renationalise the railways, anything like that, we would have

to wait until we formally leave the use until that

to wait until we formally leave the EU until that

could actually be possible.

OK.

Any support for taking the M6 toll into public ownership?

What's the view generally, so far as that question is concerned?

I have to ask whether it is actually feasible,

given the legislation and so on.

We are obsessed with the M6 toll, most people, most voters

in the West Midlands are worried about the absence of bus services.

We were told that deregulating and privatising bus services

would mean more buses and they'd be cheaper and they'd

be more plentiful.

No, they're not.

All that happened is, they swapped public monopoly

for private monopoly.

We need, not just a complete freeze on fares, we need an massively

reduced fare before we can start ordering people not

to use their cars.

OK.

I'm going to move it on now...

APPLAUSE.

I'm going to move it onto the next question

which is about housing, which is, again, another

of the primary responsibilities of the metro mayor, so-called.

Although some public policy analysts would like the mayor to have an even

bigger role than the one suggested at the moment.

The question comes from Dan Jones.

Dan Jones, your question on housing.

How would the mayor ensure that more affordable housing is created

across the region without negatively impacting on-screen space?

across the region without negatively impacting on green space?

Bearing in mind, James BUrn that you got a precise example

there in Solihull of a proposed development coming up on green belt.

Big issue, big talking point there.

And the pressure for affordable housing.

How do you answer it?

Big question.

Thank you.

There is a housing crisis.

Let's be clear.

As a local councillor, I get at least two phone calls every

single week from people in tears because they find themselves

homeless and there is literally nowhere to go.

You walk through the streets of Birmingham and the number

of rough sleepers has risen unbelievably in five years.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to not have a house.

The reason this has happened is because we haven't

built enough houses, we've left the market to it.

In the region, we need to build between ten

and 15,000 houses per year.

We are building between three and 4000.

We are building between 3000 and 4000.

The main reason for that is government has not stepped

in to build houses since the 1980s, to make affordable housing

and we've seen prices rocket.

We need a giant investment of government

money in-house building.

money in house building.

Until we see that, were not going to end the housing crisis.

People are going to go homeless and, quite frankly, if the government

cannot provide homes to its citizens, it is

failing in its basic duty.

Sion, you got yourself into some hot water with voters in Solihull

recently by saying that James's town had a big role to play

in providing new homes.

What would you say to people there?

What I was actually saying then wasn't what was reported

but was precisely the answer to the question.

It sounds a bit boring but what we need is a regional spatial plan.

It's absolutely essential.

That is a power that the mayor doesn't have.

Initially.

What does it mean, precisely?

What it means is, you've got this whole big region,

seven different local authorities, another one stuck on the outside,

and scattered across this region there is employment land,

and there is housing land, and there are brown field sites,

and greenfield sites and there are places where more jobs

are going to be an places where more people live

and there are all the questions of connectivity between them all.

Now, you have to plan all of that together in one plan and the fact

that we haven't got a plan like that and the fact that most developed

regions in the world have got it, means that we can't attract

investment into our region.

So, we have to have spatial plan before we can do anything,

before we can put the right things in the right place.

Then we can build more council housing, we can enable the building

of more social housing, of building housing of other kinds,

we can clean up the private rented sector and we will get investment

in to the private house-building sector, as well.

And it will lower the price in the private sector.

If you're serious about the West Midlands and you believe

in our region, you have to have a plan that

puts it all together.

Pete Durnell, you've been majoring on brown field development and,

indeed, refurb of derelict areas but surely that's not

going to be enough.

It's a question of the green belt if we're going to deal

with this, isn't it?

I accept to a certain extent what Sion is saying but you can

have a spatial plan as much as you like, what the spatial plan

will tell you is there's a lot of land on the west side

of Birmingham, in the Black Country, which is available for development.

OK, it might cost quite a bit of money because it's brownfield,

it may have pollution, or whatever.

If you go along to East side, around Coventry, Solihull,

there is a huge shortage of land.

There is not enough Brownfield land there so you have two choices.

You either build up with high-rise or you have to go

across and the only way you can go across is on green belt.

So, that is the situation we're in.

A bit of green belt development is inevitable, Beverley?

Well, I think there's a couple of really important points here.

Firstly, the builders of social housing, affordable housing,

have been starved of thecash that they require to invest in order

to build the housing stock for affordable homes

by the Conservative government, cutting the rents for social

housing associations, cutting the new homes bonus

and the right to buy which means as fast as we build affordable

homes, we sell them at a massive discount

and were not replacing them.

So, what do we need?

We need more money, as James is saying, we need to lift the cap

on the housing revenue account, enabling others to borrow more

in the region, and we need to pull the money straight down from housing

and communities agency.

In terms of greenfield and brownfield development, the land

commission that was commissioned by the combine authority recently

commission that was commissioned by the combined authority recently

came out with a detailed report stating very clearly that

unless we use very sensibly some of the greenfield land

that is already allocated through the local area plans

for development, we will not reach our target and we cannot spend

all our time remediating.

Andy Street, what Beverley is saying there is that the ambitions that

you've expressed an housing are trapped, in effect,

by the limitations and failures of government policy

by your party in office.

And I don't accept that.

The question was how were going to build more homes,

including affordable homes.

And the answer is, in my plan, I've committed very clearly

to doubling the rate of house-building and the tactic

that will be used and the policy that will be used very clearly

is brownfield first.

Now, everybody says that but, if you look around this area,

you will all know hundreds of derelict sites that have laid

derelict for 10-20, 30 years.

It's a wonderful example of failure in the past and what this

is about is using new money that is there to clean the site

and then develop them out.

What I'm standing for is a person that will change

what has gone before.

So there are more homes built.

Were then do you stand on this great argument

going on between Andrew Mitchell who has got this proposed 6000

development of housing in Sutton Coldfield and Sajid Javid,

the Communities Secretary, who is promising tough

decisions on this?

It's very straightforward.

We should never have got to that point at all.

Because, quite simply, the reason we are at that point

is we have failed to do exactly what I have been talking about.

So, what I've said is that will never happen again in that way.

We shouldn't be building on the green belt, we should be

building on the rich belt.

Fancy asking a bunch of accountants, financiers, estate agents,

developers, what shall we do to develop our housing and building

policy in West Midlands?

Of course, they're going to tell us the land that they want,

the land that they don't currently have, the land they prefer to have.

What I'd like to see is a massive expansion of council house building

so that every single 16-35-year-old has a home that they want.

And every single 40-plus-year-old is paying reasonably for mortgages

and or rents that's the kind of massive change that we need.

We can only do it by introducing a land tax and by controlling

the land in our area.

Let's go back to our questioner, Dan Jones, you've been

patiently listening to all that, what you make of the answers you've

been hearing?

I'd like to take Andy Street to task on his commitment to

redevelop brownfield sites, which is very commendable,

but the commitment needs to be about developing it for housing.

In the area in which I live we have lots of brownfield sites, we

have a massive one that was meant to be

going for Tesco, Tesco have now

pulled out and that's a prime location for housing, and I would

like to see housing there, not another Asda, a supermarket coming

in that we don't need.

We do need affordable housing and that's what

I'd like to see.

For the final word on this subject to the man in the blue

shirt, just near the front, here, if you could?

Thank you so much, Patrick.

Briefly, if you would.

Yeah, very quickly, it's indirectly but directly directed to something

that you said.

I'm with an organisation called Let's Feed Brum.

Six nights a week, on the streets of Birmingham, handing out

sandwiches and hot food to the homeless.

It is a growing crisis, it does need looking at, and whoever

wins as mayor I invite you to come and join me for one hour to come out

on the streets of Birmingham, meet some of them and see what we can

directly do to help these people.

Your invitation has been heard by all the candidates, so I'm sure they

were listening.

If you are just joining us, you are watching

A Mayor For The West Midlands, it is our BBC Midlands debate

from Birmingham's Ormiston Academy.

You can continue this discussion right

now on social media using the hashtag WMMayor.

I'm going to move on to our next question.

You have a question about the early impact of

the new mayor, don't you?

Indeed.

It's a new role, I'm just interested in what will have changed for me or

my children after your first 100 days in office.

Pete Durnell, you have talked as others have about

making an initial, clear impact, so how do you intend

to set about this?

Actually, I have not promised great things after 100 days.

I think it would be wrong to do that.

I think we always have to remember here that

the mayor with very few exceptions

has to work with seven council leaders.

It is not a presidential position, you cannot say, right,

I want this done, and it happens.

That is not the way it works.

You sit in a cabinet with seven council

leaders and it is a collaborative decision on almost everything.

The thing that I would be doing for the

first 100 days quite honestly is finding out what is going on,

because I don't think anybody really knows what is going on

in the combined authority.

I've seen some of the reports and I can't...

She wants to know how her life will be affected.

It seems you're saying it's not going to be affected very

much at all.

In 100 days, no, it isn't.

Because the mayor will have to get to grips with all the stuff

that is going on already, find out whether is being spent, find out how

far the plans have got, all this sort of stuff.

Because, essentially, people don't know and I

don't know...

Beverley Nielsen, would you have an instant influence

on her everyday life?

Yes, yes, absolutely.

I'm very clear actually that I would introduce universal

fare so we would have the opportunity to buy a ticket that is

integrated.

I am very interested in last mile solutions so I'm talking

about park and ride with Sprint buses so we can clean up the air,

very quickly change, start giving people choice, and of course I'm

going to introduce my Beverley's Bikes right across

the West Midlands.

Good.

Sion Simon, your 100 days promise?

One of my commitments is to cap bus and tram

fares at ?4.40 a day.

Can you do that?

It's a deregulated market.

Give me a minute, Patrick.

Give me a minute.

?4.40 a day applied automatically and electronically

like they've been doing in London and similar regions for years and

years.

And free public transport on bus and trams for 16 to 19-year-olds

in further education.

Now, some people, Patrick has just revealed

himself to be one of them, say to me, you don't really

have the powers to do that at all.

I think that I can probably do that in 100 days.

And I think that, going back to the previous

gentleman's point, about the absolutely shameful

scandal of homelessness

in the West Midlands, going back to that, we're not going

to solve that problem in 100 days, obviously not.

But I would like to think that we can start to make a

difference in 100 days.

I would like to think that you, sir, will feel

the difference in 100 days in having a mayor

in the West Midlands who actually cares about and wants

to solve that problem and does come down to see you and is asking you

what do you need, how can we help,

because it is a disgrace to our region that we have people sleeping

and dying on our streets in a rich country like this.

Absolutely outrageous.

Your 100 day pledge.

One thing I would say is a very respected from Pete

throughout the campaign is honesty.

I agree with this spirit of what Sion and Beverley are saying but it

is not deliverable in 100 days.

What I think you can do in 100 days

is change direction.

At the moment we are set on a course for a

trickle-down economic plan that invests a lot in wealthy areas

and hopes it trickles down for everyone else's benefit.

That hasn't worked in the last 25 years, it's not going

to work now.

So the first thing I would do in my first ten days would

be to appoint a deputy mayor to make sure everyone benefits

from the economic plan...

No, the mayor has to have a deputy mayor it is in the

constitution.

So I would make sure that deputy mayor is in charge for

every decision that comes to that cabinet, saying will face benefit

ordinary people, yes or no, if no how do we change it?

And what is your key policy within that?

Can you just hit the bull's-eye with the

key...?

One in three children in the West Midlands living in poverty.

It's that high.

That has to change.

To change that, we need new economic plans.

And what we have got to do is make sure that these plans come about.

Graham Stevenson.

Well, the general election, actually creates the

possibility for addressing the issue of municipal ownership

of bus and tram sector.

The Tories have currently got a bill in the

Lords which will probably fail which would prevent

that from happening.

Very undemocratic.

If, therefore, it's possible to proceed after the

election of a mayor with the new municipalisation of bus

services, I think major companies like that which produces the

electric taxi owned by a huge Chinese conglomerate would be very

interested in the manufacturing of electric buses and electric trams.

Instead of bringing them from Italy on a low loader across a motorway,

all the way across Europe...

You could spend a lot of money on this.

There's a lot of money being consumed, isn't there?

We've already worked out throughout the campaign

there could well be an introduction of a West Midlands bond but one of

the things about this crap devolution deal is that the mayor

would need to go back to whatever government we have after the general

election and say it needs to be re-negotiated.

Before we can get people out of their cars, we have to

provide massive carrots.

We can only do that with really serious money.

Andy Street.

It's an interesting question.

I've been reflecting and I think the answer is,

I'd choose something that costs no money at all but actually

illustrated what this job is all about and it's all about leadership.

So, the thing I would choose is that in the first 100 days I would make

sure we had a Brexit summit which brought

gether big businesses that have got a lot

at stake, which employ thousands of people.

And get them together with key government ministers who are

negotiating a future deal.

And there are really practical matters in that

deal that are going to affect our prosperity.

For example?

For example, our automotive companies

are talking about whether they are able to move goods between European

countries in the supply chain.

That needs to be tariff free.

When the Prime Minister was last here, I was

briefing her and the Secretary of State for business on that.

It's those practical matters that come

from a new leadership role.

That's what I mean by speaking up for the region.

It's interesting because...

We'll come onto some Brexit related matters in a moment but it's very

interesting just to go back to the person who post this

really quite challenging question.

I'm just wondering what you are making about

what the candidates have said so far on this.

I'm not impressed by anyone who says 100 days is no time at all.

OK.

So what would be your choice?

If you could rule the world and the, let's say, not the world

but the West Midlands, what would be your big initiative,

your big idea to make an instant impact?

The instant impact is to change the way

we approach house-building, for instance.

I think the UK has been stuck in this format of government,

managers, house-building, the house builders

there are plenty of other areas within Europe

where is not managed in blocks by individuals.

OK.

Woman in blue in the middle of the audience.

I'm just interested in your pet ideas,

pet suggestions, if you could absolutely

have a word in the ear of the incoming Mayor and say

this is what you want.

I'm not sure I have a pet idea but talking from a project

management perspective, if you are a mayor,

why not look at the job as a project?

Why don't you look at the plan back from the day your

mandate finishes and why not to be able to deliver in the first 100

days at least one or two points, be that important or not.

I don't see why not.

Very briefly, if you would.

I actually agree with Sion.

The first 100 days priority would be to

sort out some of our homelessness.

It's shameful to society what's happening with our homeless people.

I don't agree we can change the way we do

housing in 100 days

but I absolutely agree with Sion that we

need to sort out the homeless crisis.

As I said, we are going to move on and it is Brexit and all

these use and challenges that go with that,

the burning issue of the day.

Davinci has a question on Brexit?

How will you use Brexit to boost the economy?

Now, that is the question for you, Beverly.

Of course the Liberal Democrats have made

anti-Brexit very much your signature issue and you've talked about

leading everybody through the challenges and uncertainties.

What's your answer?

I think it is a risk for our economy.

I think the danger is that if we do not have tariff

free access that we have tariffs imposed on the imports used in our

cross European supply chain we make 30% of all cars here but my whole

approach as mayor would be around investing in our home grown

businesses, so building up the manufacturing businesses,

businesses that start here and pulling through

those businesses young talent that we are equally skilling up and

training in this region and not losing them as part of the brain

drain because we have the highest

proportion of students in this region.

Our human gold mine.

I want to see them going into our businesses and driving and powering

the next generation of growth because we're on the verge

of a transformation.

I don't agree with my colleagues who say that we're

promising too much because what's the point of a mayor if you're not

actually going to change things.

I don't agree for a minute that this is about being restricted

by the devolution powers.

This is about an individual who is going to work with

everybody in this region, have grand ambition,

15 years hence, start with

the end in mind and work towards it will stop we pass the 1 million mark

with electric vehicles last year.

20 million will be sold by 2025

and 100 million by 2030.

Electric vehicles, battery power, new renewable energy

and life sciences and nano sciences, that is going

to power growth for us.

Pete Durnell.

Beverly Nielsen is saying there that she has

got an idea for get over the challenges of Brexit.

At the same time spelling at least a certain

amount of disaster, at least uncertainty.

I disagree.

Essentially, Beverly wants to give everything to

everybody.

That's great.

I'll tell you now, our councils are deeply in debt

every single one of all southern councils are deeply in debt.

They are getting cut back every year.

I know my own Council of Sandwell

has put pretty much every green area up for sale.

So that's the kind of state that we are in.

To pretend that we can actually spend loads of

money on lots of things is unfortunately not realistic,

in my opinion.

In terms of Brexit, I'm passionate about Brexit.

I believe the opportunities that were going to

have with trade with the world essentially massively outweigh any

drawbacks.

I do accept there is some uncertainty but I've spoken a lot

with people in the chambers of, as and actually businesses

are quite excited about it.

They are thinking in different ways, they are going to

work in different ways.

It is not all doom and gloom and uncertainty

by any shadow of a doubt.

Is it doom and gloom for you?

Brexit is going to happen.

We've all got to shut up and get on with it, basically.

And I think there are opportunities.

Actually, there is a massive opportunity to build

a more home-grown economy.

At the moment, if a supermarket opens in the area

for every pound that you spend there, 50p is

sucked out of our economy.

Sorry, 95p is sucked out of our economy.

If a local shop opens, every pound spent there,

50p remains in the economy.

This is our chance to build a more home-grown economy,

trading with each other, based on small businesses, based on West

Midlands people being employed by West Midlands businesses which

operate for the benefit of everyone seeing more money staying here,

flowing around here and actually using that to address

things like poverty.

This is a real opportunity and one we must take.

Brexit is happening and it's in our grasp

to make what we can of it.

Sion Simon, you sit as a member of the European

Parliament so you see issues from both sides of the travel, so to

speak.

How do you bring that experience together

to answer the question?

Let me answer.

Great question and, if you don't mind me

saying, cracking name, Da Vinci.

The first thing we need is a seat at the table.

The Tory government has been progressing as one

and they've done nothing about it.

They are negotiating a London Brexit

that suits Conservative government in London.

It's all about financial services, it's not about

manufacturing, they don't care about how engineering base,

Dave tried to destroy it once in the 70s and 80s already.

They're not interested in our higher education institutions

which are crucial part of our economy.

We need a West Midlands seat at the table because actually

it's not about how Brexit or soft Brexit, what we need and what we

need to deliver is a West Midlands Brexit.

Andy Street, do you take up the point there that Sion

was making, particularly at Jaguar, Land Rover, who are very worried

about access to their principal markets which are indeed our

neighbouring European partner nations at the moment.

All right, they sell big in China and all

around the world but that's the big worry that they have.

They say that they want clear, open access

which is in question.

That of course is what I said in response to the

previous question, my 100 day priority was ensuring that would

happen and making sure the Prime Minister and others actually

understood what is at stake for the West Midlands.

Can you make them deliver a tailor-made solution?

Yes.

You make sure and I have done it personally, discussed with the

chambers of commerce and then make sure that the issues are understood

by the government ministers.

That's why you need a powerful mayor.

Can I answer the question with more broadly.

Briefly.

I want to put a thought to you.

The thought was very much is their opportunity in this?

My general approach to this is yes.

I want to reflect on my business experience here in answering that.

I was leading John Lewis at the time of

the global recession and everyone said disaster, terrible.

But in every adversity, opportunities.

Fundamentally I disagree with Sion.

The most challenged part of our economy is the financial services

sector in London.

It means that the government are looking particularly

at areas like this.

They've got a rich manufacturing future

and we're thinking with them...

They are.

That might be what they're telling you

that if you read what they're doing, it's all about

defending financial services.

They don't say a thing about manufacturing.

That is not true.

They've invested in the London taxi company In Coventry.

They've invested in electric vehicles, they're investing in

research and development.

Beverly Nielsen.

I'd like to know, Andy, how you're going to guarantee tariff

free access when we have absolutely said we are leaving

the single market.

I did not say I guaranteed it.

What I said was that we make sure our negotiators understand

what is required.

That is the commitment I gave.

Graham Stevenson.

Until 2009, the UK had its own seat at the

World Trade Organisation and that was consolidated into an EU seat

dominated by a committee of France and Germany running things.

The next thing, a trade deal with China was

concluded whereby solar panels were supplied

by EU, to China, a massive emerging market

of air conditioning. A big thing in China.

In consequence, factories in the West Midlands

closed, factories in Germany expanded.

Now, I think it's possible to make a change.

I spent a half a lifetime as president of the

European transport workers Federation.

I've been in the EU, I know what they do.

I know how it's stiched up.

I negotiated with transnational corporations like OCI

and quarry, which have been mentioned.

I think it's possible to work on the fact that the EU needs

as as much as we need them but the world needs is even more.

I think we can get a revived manufacturing

capacity in the West Midlands on the back of Brexit.

That clearly struck a chord.

I'd be very interested to know which of you think is Brexit

good or bad for the West Midlands?

Give me your views?

Got a view on that?

I think it'll be very good for the West Midlands because

the focus will be to bring back investment and talk to all the

overseas world industrialists to get investment back

into the West Midlands. So the focus will be there.

OK.

Gentleman towards the back of the audience there.

OK. I run a small business

and most of my work actually is in Europe so I'm

bringing money into this country.

I'd like to know what going to be done for the small businessman.

I know it's really important that all

of the big companies but what about my small business, if they

introduced tariffs, if we have problems with access to countries,

my business is finished.

Any others.

Yes, at the back of the audience on this side.

You've been talking about investing in manufacturing

and financial services in the West Midlands.

For example, Deutchebank are in Birmingham, HSBC are coming

to Birmingham.

Would it not be an idea to try and attract these London

centric companies, services, et onto the West Midlands

following the HSBC model?

All right. Interesting stuff.

I am now going to move on to rather a pointed question.

One which is often bandied around.

Fairly or unfairly.

It's about Birmingham's place in the world.

Many people feel that Birmingham

lost the second city status to Manchester.

One of you candidates will be successful

and hopefully putting Birmingham back on the map.

I'd like to know how you propose to do it.

OK.

From Coventry, are you bothered about where

Birmingham sits on the map?

I moved from Coventry to Birmingham in about

1972, so hopefully I am an immigrant that accepted in the city.

What's pre-evident to me is the European Union has treated us

as a declining region.

We got lots of nice things in the city

centre, in Birmingham, I know people who say,

you come from Birmingham, but a bit of crap place, isn't it?

"No, it's changed a lot recently.

It looks really good."

We've got lots of nice glitzy stores and

statues in the city centre but the districts, the outlying

districts are not doing as well and we need

much more into education, into training into helping young people,

get a ladder on life and that's really where it counts.

That's what I want to see out of this process.

It's a devolution deal that hasn't really done

well for Birmingham and if it does

what it seems to be trying to

do to make Birmingham the

dominant partner in the West Midlands it won't do well for all of

the others, as well, including my beloved Coventry.

Talking about glitzy stores, possibly John Lewis

which you had a relationship with?

Never glitzy.

The question is that is seen as part of the ambition of

second city status and yet you've got to cascade the wealth around.

If I may be slightly cheeky in answering the question, first of

all, I don't want to be second in anything and we spend far too long

obsessing about this.

That's perhaps why you said it was a slightly

provocative question.

I'm actually much more interested in how we

compete with Berlin , Barcelona and Boston.

That is what this is really all about.

But if we take the debate that you have put on

the table, the truth is

that we are doing far better than Manchester,

fastest-growing city in

Britain, the best inward investment, the best

export performance, the best quality of life.

So all those things are there and I am pleased to

have played my part.

The issue, though, is we have lost the PR game.

So what the mayor has to do is get out there

and tell the story, and that is exactly what you learn

as CEO of a company.

APPLAUSE

Pete Durnell, as a Black Country man, does it matter

about Birmingham, Manchester and all the rest?

It does matter.

Absolutely, we all want to see Birmingham succeed, but we don't

want to see what has happened which is other parts of the region

actually falling into disrepair.

I see in town centres all across the Black Country

which are gradually going downhill, and one of the

reasons the Black Country voted a big vote to come out of the EU was

they felt that they had been left behind in a massive way.

And it is absolutely essential for the mayor

to promote Birmingham, promote Coventry, to go out there and do it

across the country, across the world.

But at the same time you also need to be fair to the other regions.

Don't let them be left behind.

Don't just wait for the trickle-down effect from the great

things that are happening in Birmingham or Coventry.

One of the big things I'm promoting is

reinvigorating the town centres, buying up disused offices, the

mayor has the actual ability to do that, turn them into a living space

inside town centres, create a nice environment there,

but also gives the opportunity to local businesses

to sell into those people.

So let's get the towns back up

on their feet again.

Sion, Pete suggests maybe we're worrying a bit too much about

Birmingham.

Maybe focusing too much on the second city.

Answering the question, Andy said we are doing

great, we are doing better than anywhere else.

Let's be clear, some people are doing great.

You are not doing so great if you're one of the

people dying under a bridge in Birmingham.

You're not doing so great if you're one of the 1500

people who are homeless in Coventry or one of the 27.5% of young people

that is unemployed in Wolverhampton.

Those people are not doing so great.

APPLAUSE

However, let's also be clear,

my family moved to Sandwell in 1975.

I am massively proud to be from this region because this is the

best place in the world.

This is an extraordinary place, where we built

the first steam engines, the Spitfires that won

the Battle of Britain, the first...

We are all in agreement that it is a wonderful place!

We are in agreement but we don't talk about it,

we don't celebrate it.

The region of Shakespeare and Elliott and Elgar

and...

Extraordinary achievement, a fabulous place.

When did you ever hear that?

When do we ever say that to each other?

And that is what this job is about.

APPLAUSE

As well.

OK...

It's about combining the poetry and the genius of the West

Midlands with understanding that people dying under bridges

is not the kind of society that we ought to be.

Is Birmingham falling behind Manchester?

That is a ridiculous question.

Birmingham and the West Midlands is so much better than

Manchester it is unbelievable!

LAUGHTER APPLAUSE

We have heard again and again,

Beverly Nielsen extolling the virtues of what is made

in Birmingham...

I was going to say that I haven't just talked about going to do

something about promoting Birmingham and the West Midlands, I have been

doing it for the last 20 years.

20 years ago I promoted West Midlands First,

it was all about the firsts we have invented here.

From radar, thermal imaging, liquid-crystal display, of course

launching the Industrial Revolution, Coalbrookdale, Abraham Darby, and

changing the world not just once, twice,

three times, but now we are going to do it again.

And this is the thing that I think is really

important here.

It is not just about Birmingham alone.

It is about the whole of the West Midlands,

how by coming together we are the greatest region in the UK.

And we are going to change the world again

with our great ingenuity, our creativity and our

innovation and design, Patrick.

And Birmingham Made Me is part of it.

James Burn.

APPLAUSE

Yes, so we've spent the last few

months literally travelling around speaking to audiences across the

West Midlands, and the common theme is a concern that this won't work

for them, they will be forgotten, whether you live in

the Black Country or in Solihull or Coventry or Birmingham,

everyone shares that concern.

Another thing is people are very proud of their areas,

but they are really frustrated.

They have restricted because they feel left

behind, they feel the plans aren't working for them, and they are

frustrated about a loss of identity.

And so we need to bring back pride by rebuilding places, by

rebuilding high streets, by rebuilding strong local economies.

And also the mayor is covering 3 million people, no mayor

with the best will in the world can understand the needs

of every single place. It cannot happen.

That is why we need to broaden it out, to stop

it being run by exclusively older white men, to start involving

more people from more communities, from more areas, to make sure this

authority understands the needs of everyone across the region

and can meet those needs.

Is the mayor principally a champion at home

and abroad for Birmingham, the West Midlands?

How do you get the message across?

Because if you go to China, for example, you see

Birmingham on the map but you don't see the West Midlands on it.

How'd you go about that?

You decide the right name for

the right occasion that you've got, and if you've got a formal occasion

it's the West Midlands combined authority, that's the name given,

end of subject.

I'm sure that when you go on a trade mission you do use

Birmingham as a name.

OK, good question.

I'm going to throw it quickly to the audience because

time is getting short.

The gentleman on the front row here.

How do you see Birmingham in this conversation?

I would seriously like an answer to this.

It is a two-way street.

You came here today, we have heard what

you have to say, you have all had half an hour or so to listen to us.

Isn't one of you brave enough to acknowledge that you have learned

something from what we've said

in the last half hour or so, any of you?

I'm sure they all have.

I'm sure it has been an education for us all.

Because, with a certain amount of regret, this, ladies and

gentlemen, is where I'm going to have to call time on tonight's

discussion, which I'm sure has been very informative.

I would like to thank particularly the panel

and indeed the audience for all your questions -

we could have gone on all night.

And of course you too can continue this debate on social media

at home, using the hashtag - #wmmayor.

And finally from me a quick word - on Sunday Politics Midlands this

weekend we will have plenty of things to talk about, won't we,

with the county council elections also coming up in two weeks'

time, and of course that snap general election?

That is all at the later time of 3:10pm this Sunday afternoon,

here on BBC One, after the London Marathon.

But from all of us here, good night.

APPLAUSE

Happy New Year!

TV: She'll be safe and snug.

LAUGHTER