This is an edited extract of a speech delivered by Robert Jenrick in Wolverhampton on 12th November. Watch the full press conference here.
The Black Country built Britain.
Iron from Bilston. Glass from Stourbridge. Chains from Cradley Heath. Enamels so fine they now sit in museums.
Now, unemployment here is over 7%, more than one and a half times the national rate. In Sandwell, in Walsall, and here in Wolverhampton, more than one in three children are growing up in poverty. There are endemic health problems. There is growing lawlessness, from e-bikes to shoplifting to tool theft.
The story of the Black Country is a parable for the decline so many of our towns and cities have faced.
And if we can fix the Black Country, we can fix Britain.
I’ve come with three promises.
The first is jobs.
A Reform government won’t sit by, and allow industrial heartlands to decay. We will revive our industrial heartlands. We will bring industry back to the places that invented it.
A Reform government will establish Industrial Strongholds. These will be special economic zones throughout the country. In every Stronghold, businesses will get transformative tax breaks if – and only if – they grow and develop their firms there.
By enabling these businesses, by getting out of their way, we will bring industry back to this country. We will truly reindustrialise.
The very first one in Britain will be in and around the Black Country. A new Reform Industrial Stronghold for automotive and engineering.
If we unleash the potential of this region and this country, with cheaper energy, less regulation, more apprenticeships, better infrastructure, lower taxes, then this really can be a new golden age for this region – and for this country.
There will be a great Black Country revival, leading the way for an even greater national revival, too.
The Black Country built Britain.
Iron from Bilston. Glass from Stourbridge. Chains from Cradley Heath. Enamels so fine they now sit in museums.
Now, unemployment here is over 7%, more than one and a half times the national rate. In Sandwell, in Walsall, and here in Wolverhampton, more than one in three children are growing up in poverty. There are endemic health problems. There is growing lawlessness, from e-bikes to shoplifting to tool theft.
The story of the Black Country is a parable for the decline so many of our towns and cities have faced.
And if we can fix the Black Country, we can fix Britain.
I’ve come with three promises.
The first is jobs.
A Reform government won’t sit by, and allow industrial heartlands to decay. We will revive our industrial heartlands. We will bring industry back to the places that invented it.
A Reform government will establish Industrial Strongholds. These will be special economic zones throughout the country. In every Stronghold, businesses will get transformative tax breaks if – and only if – they grow and develop their firms there.
By enabling these businesses, by getting out of their way, we will bring industry back to this country. We will truly reindustrialise.
The very first one in Britain will be in and around the Black Country. A new Reform Industrial Stronghold for automotive and engineering.
If we unleash the potential of this region and this country, with cheaper energy, less regulation, more apprenticeships, better infrastructure, lower taxes, then this really can be a new golden age for this region – and for this country.
There will be a great Black Country revival, leading the way for an even greater national revival, too.
if we can fix the Black Country, we can fix Britain
Secondly, British jobs for British workers.
Under Reform, jobs in Britain go to British workers first.
Since 2014, this country has added three point seven million jobs. One in five went to a British worker. One in five.
Since 2020, for every extra young Briton employers took on, they hired 27 young workers from outside Europe. All the while nearly a million of our own young people sit at home, out of work.
That is not an economy. That is a betrayal.
Reform will scrap Rachel Reeves’ jobs tax for every British worker. That will be paid for by a levy on the firms that would rather import cheap labour than train a local lad.
British jobs for British workers. It’s about time you came first.
Under Reform, jobs in Britain go to British workers first.
Since 2014, this country has added three point seven million jobs. One in five went to a British worker. One in five.
Since 2020, for every extra young Briton employers took on, they hired 27 young workers from outside Europe. All the while nearly a million of our own young people sit at home, out of work.
That is not an economy. That is a betrayal.
Reform will scrap Rachel Reeves’ jobs tax for every British worker. That will be paid for by a levy on the firms that would rather import cheap labour than train a local lad.
British jobs for British workers. It’s about time you came first.
The third promise: a wage that goes further.
A job is only worth having if the wage goes somewhere. Ask yourself why the weekly shop costs what it costs. It isn’t the farmer. It isn’t the shopkeeper. Too much is the government.
There is a crazy new tax on packaging. Green levies on the electricity that runs through the freezers. And the job-destroying Employment Rights Act on top.
Reform will scrap all that. We will take nearly £4 billion and counting off the cost of food. That’s £140 a year off the average family’s shopping.
We’ll cut £250 off your energy bills. We’ll raise the tax free personal allowance to £15,000. We’ll abolish tax on overtime. That’s Reform’s plan.
Jobs here. Good Jobs for our people. And a wage that goes further. To recognise places like the Black Country built Britain.
A new golden age is coming for Britain.
The Black Country built this extraordinary country once. And with Reform, we’ll build it again.
A job is only worth having if the wage goes somewhere. Ask yourself why the weekly shop costs what it costs. It isn’t the farmer. It isn’t the shopkeeper. Too much is the government.
There is a crazy new tax on packaging. Green levies on the electricity that runs through the freezers. And the job-destroying Employment Rights Act on top.
Reform will scrap all that. We will take nearly £4 billion and counting off the cost of food. That’s £140 a year off the average family’s shopping.
We’ll cut £250 off your energy bills. We’ll raise the tax free personal allowance to £15,000. We’ll abolish tax on overtime. That’s Reform’s plan.
Jobs here. Good Jobs for our people. And a wage that goes further. To recognise places like the Black Country built Britain.
A new golden age is coming for Britain.
The Black Country built this extraordinary country once. And with Reform, we’ll build it again.
