The Mayor of the West Midlands has welcomed the new budget which he says ‘mirrors his own priorities for the region’.

The budget will see the West Midlands receive:

• Funding for the West Midlands Metro extension to Brierley Hill
• A share of £1bn to protect vital bus routes
• A share of the extra £500m for the Affordable Homes Programme 
• A share of the £240m 'Get Britain Working' package
• A direct HS2 link between the West Midlands and the heart of London
• Further support for the region’s Innovation Accelerator to develop cutting edge green and medical technologies 

The Chancellor also confirmed that the West Midlands, along with Greater Manchester, will get an integrated settlement in April 2025 expected to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds. 

This will allow the Mayor and fellow West Midlands leaders much greater freedom to allocate funding where they feel it is most needed. The exact figure will be announced in the coming weeks.

Welcoming the announcements, the Mayor said the budget would support his own four key priorities – Jobs for Everyone – Homes for Everyone - Growth for Everyone and Journeys for Everyone.

The budget was also a personal win for the Mayor who had lobbied Government for extra funding for both affordable housing and getting people back into the workplace.

The integrated settlement also confirmed the Government’s intention to put Metro Mayors at the heart of the nation’s push for economic growth by pressing ahead with devolution and the transfer of money and power from Whitehall to the West Midlands.

The Mayor, who also chairs the West Midlands Combined Authority, said: “My goals are simple - real jobs, affordable homes, economic growth and better public transport for the people of the West Midlands. 

“Today’s budget will help deliver those local priorities and is great news for the West Midlands, helping us build a solid platform for future growth across our region.

“It will provide money to improve and protect our public transport and for the construction of more affordable homes, echoing my own target to build 20,000 new social homes for those people who need them most.

“I will now work closely with Government departments and our local authorities on how best to use the resources available to secure the maximum benefit for the people of our region.”