Following the Queens Speech today, Metro Mayor for the West of England Dan Norris said:
“As pandemic restrictions ease and the West of England opens up more, we need to learn the lessons from covid and build back better.
“My top priority is jobs and skills. But I am concerned that for this out-of-touch government lifelong learning seems to be about saddling workers with lifelong debt.
“I support measures to help our local businesses. Nine in ten people who got back to work after the last recession did so by gaining employment in a small business or through self-employment, so backing for start-ups will be key.
“I want to see the details of their Planning Bill. The last thing we need is a developers’ charter which will make it easier to build over the countryside and our precious green spaces.”