There has been a lot of attention on the Mayoral races taking place in the great cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol but, as so often is the case, the West Midlands mayoral contest has not received so much publicity. It maybe because the Mayor won’t just cover Birmingham, but other areas as varied as the Black country and the city of Coventry.

For too long, the West Midlands has been sitting quietly at the back of the queue when successive governments decide which region to support – and that has to change.

Beverley Nielsen, our candidate to be the first West Midlands Mayor, has placed getting the best deal for the West Midlands, and the next generation, squarely at the heart of her election bid.

Beverley is branding herself as a champion of change and is determined to see that Birmingham and the rest of the West Midlands conurbation remain ignored no longer.

A former CBI regional director, and director of leading UK FTSE plc, AGA Rangemaster, Beverley has spent the last decade at Birmingham City University, and is responsible for a raft of innovative partnerships bringing employers and students together to create employment and wealth.

Birmingham is the youngest city in Europe, with almost 45% of its population under 25, so a key plank of Beverley’s pitch is giving young people a helping hand, at a time when they need it most, by giving everyone under the age of 25 free travel on public transport across the West Midlands.

However the decision of this Tory government to go for a hard Brexit deal means more must be done to help our SMEs survive the current economic and political uncertainty, and focus on creating an environment which allows them to prosper in the future. At the other end of the business scale, a West Midlands Mayor must also fight to secure the livelihoods of workers at such global giants as Jaguar Land Rover, GKN and JCB, who depend on continued tariff-free access to the Single Market.

We’ve been told by government that the first Mayor must make £4 billion of cuts, because that’s the size of the funding shortfall which the Tories want to impose upon us. It’s absurd, illogical and unfair.

So we need to persuade people not to keep voting in the same way and expect change. We have a Tory candidate in denial about his party’s austerity policies, and meanwhile, Labour is in turmoil over its attitude to Brexit.
This region needs a strong Lib Dem voice, as we are the only party with a rational Brexit policy. There are people counting on us to stand up for them.

But of course to reach out to those people we need to communicate with them. And that is where you come in.  We have produced a crowd funding video which highlights exactly why Beverley Nielsen is the right candidate to be the first West Midlands Mayor.  Please do take a look – and then donate what you can.

* Kate Canty is the Campaign Coordinator for Beverley Nielsen in the election for West Midlands Metro Mayor