In an elegant office in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham, I met with mayor Andy Street, in his campaign for re-election. Thank you to Andy’s campaign assistant, Hugo Rasenberg, in facilitating our meeting. And thank you to Charlie O’Keeffe, Will Hammond, Jessica Parker, and Jacob Dyke for their assistance.

Why should not only University of Birmingham students vote for you in the upcoming election, but young people in general?

I guess the way of thinking about this question is that the purpose of doing this job is ensuring there are opportunities for young people who are either in the region growing up or come to the region to study. The reason I am so focused on that is that when I was your sort of age [22] the truth was that there were not those sorts of opportunities here at all, and consequently I had to move away, so the bottom line is: are there opportunities for young people here? If you look at the data over the last couple of years, we said there would be 100,000 new jobs – and we delivered those. If you look at what we’re pitching for the future, we’ve talked about 425,000 jobs and training opportunities in the new high growth sectors. So, if you want to be working in lifestyle, tech, digital, or creative, broadcasting industries there are now the opportunities here and we work very hard to make sure that’s the case, and that is what this is really all about. It’s also worth saying as well that we do have the fastest growing tech sector in the UK, not as big as London of course, not by any means, but actually always improving our prowess there and facilitating opportunities for people to fulfil their ambitions.

Irrespective of politics that’s definitely a welcome initiative, especially regarding how I’m personally beginning a career in the creative sector and Will [photographer] will be going into a career in environmental management. We both love Birmingham, and like many others, we don’t want to have to leave to get a job.

One of the really important things regarding having a career in the creative sector is the deal with the BBC which has led to them setting up their new headquarters down in Digbeth, bringing more big and high-profile titles coming to Birmingham and the West Midlands, really important. It’s a good example of the ‘soft power’ here in that nobody said I had to make direct contact with the director-general of the BBC, but, when he was first appointed, I said ‘Tim, you’ve never heard of me, but we’re going to work together’, and we ended up with this agreement.

It sounds like Birmingham is on its way to living up to its name of being the UK’s second city. Let’s look a little bit into the statistics, according to a national poll for voting intentions for March 2024, 68% of 18–24-year-olds are intending to vote Labour. How do you think the current deep disillusionment with the conservative party will affect your election?

So, the critical thing in that question is that it’s a national statistic. This election is not about national party politics or popularity polls between the two parties, this is about who is the best person to lead the West Midlands. So, I am not remotely worried about those national statistics, because the question on the ballot paper is different, its about one person being elected to a leadership job here.

Great. It’s worth mentioning that your polls have remain very strong in comparison to issues surrounding larger party politics.

Yes, and that is because by this third mayoral election, citizens have got the fact that this is a different kind of job.

Your specific emphasis on heritage, culture and Birmingham pride has really come through in your time as the mayor, and is definitely to be celebrated. In light of that, what are your thoughts on the closure of the Electric Cinema, and the demolition of the hippodrome in Dudley?

Well, they’re different. They’re very, very different. The closure of The Electric Cinema is a tragedy because it’s a real and wonderful piece of heritage, and we had a meeting with all of the station street campaigners just two days ago [22/04/24] and I am determined that we find a way that the Old Rep, The Crown, and The Electric can still be really important cultural venues. Whether the venue can be reopened exactly as it was remains to be seen, but the idea of an independent cinema there on the site where it has been for 100 years is absolutely something that we will fight for. So that’s clear.

Dudley Hippodrome, that’s actually slightly different, and I know people disagree with me over this. There was no viable commercial route for that. What’s actually happening there now is that that site is now going to be a new university site there for Dudley and I think it is hugely to be celebrated that Dudley town is actually going to have a proper university.

Birmingham City Council recently went bankrupt and council tax was recently raised by 21% as part of a £300 million budget-saving scheme. How will this impact Birmingham’s intentions to tackle the climate crisis, and further plans in regard to this?

The really important thing here is that Birmingham’s finances and the combined authorities’ finances are separate. So, there is no contagion, you might call it, and we will continue in our plan for WM2041 [a programme for implementing environmental recovery] and net-zero by 2041. A number of key issues around it, obviously, transport, and the encouragement of public transport, we are funding that. We have the £6 billion warchest [funding to integrate and expand public transport across the WM].

Yes, we do have to work with Birmingham on some of the proposals, but we’re funding it, so it doesn’t need to stop that in any way. Then the next part of it, of course, is the decarbonisation of business, which again, we are getting on with. Some things like the energy advice scheme, again separately funded, even the retro-fitting, we will be getting separate funding for that as well. So, really critical answer. What happened to the City Council, clearly a tragedy, and very clear example of financial mismanagement, but it does not knock us off our course of committing the funding we have secured.

A very important clarification. So, statistics aside, and more social policy: the north-south divide is vividly felt by university students, especially at Birmingham. Being a melting pot within the Midlands, a geographical meeting between the north and the south, do you perceive your position as being influential regarding tackling this?

Yes. The very purpose of doing this job was well before levelling up, was about rebalancing the economy. That is what this job exists for. All the funding we’ve brought in, whether it be the £6 billion on transport, or the fact that we are spending £170 million a year on training and retraining youngsters and adults to give them qualifications for good new jobs as we mentioned right at the beginning. That is the right way of tackling the north-south divide, to use your language. This job is laser focused on that. And we have in our manifesto talked, of course, about matching London’s rate of growth…

Before 2030 I believe?

Yes, before 2030, and people say to me ‘Andy that is overambitious’, and it is not at all. We managed to achieve in the decade up to 2020, when COVID struck, we achieved the fastest growing region outside of London with some years matching London within that. So, there is recent evidence that is can be done.

Recently when an MP spoke about deprivation in Stockton on Tees, the Home Secretery allegedly referred to the town as a ‘shithole’, as a mayor representing Birmingham, a city which has received similar classist abuse put towards it; what are your thoughts on this?

I have never heard anyone say that of Birmingham. And let’s be clear, I think for the sake of the record, I think the Home Secretary would actually deny having said that, but I don’t know the answer. But I can still answer your question: that is certainly not said of this place. But there is a recent example, I think it was Paul Scully: the MP in London, said there were quote-unquote ‘no-go zones’ in Birmingham which is clearly untrue. So, my responsibility as the regional leader, and as I always say, ‘my only loyalty is to place, not to party’, is to say very clearly that he was wrong, and I was very quick to condemn what he had said and I will always stick up for this place in terms of its national branding and every time I’ve been asked to do so I’ve stood up for it [Birmingham].

So, if you do win a third term, and if the conservative party are defeated, you would presumably be the most influential conservative party member in the country outside of Westminster. Would Westminster come knocking? Andy Street for PM?

No. No. No. There is an obvious point here isn’t there that I could’ve said after two terms of doing this job that ‘I’d quite like to go to Westminster’, and I didn’t. I wanted to do this job again. This is the political job that is suited to me. The executive element to it and I am rooted to the place.

Well, that’s all. Thank you very much, Andy, it was a pleasure to meet with you.

Great. Thank you. It was no problem at all. I look forward to what Redbrick has to say!

Local and mayoral elections will take place on Thursday 2^nd May, 2024.

After contacting other candidates, Redbrick received no response. You can discover more on their manifestos here.