Time to remake the home of the Industrial Revolution
For generations, the West Midlands has been the engine of the UK’s manufacturing economy. Over 1 in 10 of the region’s inhabitants work in manufacturing – well above the national average. Industrial centres in Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton have fuelled growth across the region, manufacturing iconic British goods from the Jaguar Land Rover to the Cadbury’s chocolate bar.
The West Midlands was the birthplace of an industrial revolution that shaped the world. But access to well paying, decent jobs isn’t what it once was.
We need to unleash the region’s potential with the investment and infrastructure it deserves. The UK’s economy was built by the West Midlands – it’s time to get back to our industrial roots.
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Actions to make Britain Energy secure by 2030
A playbook for energy security
From 2020 to 2022, international gas prices surged by 400%. This led to a 235% rise in household electricity bills. In other words, every £1 rise in international gas prices led to a 58p rise in the electricity bills paid by British families.
We recently published The Powerbook which includes 25 actions for energy security to stop this from happening in future.
The challenge
The price of solar, onshore wind, and offshore wind have fallen by 62%, 55%, and 75% in under a decade. The main obstacles to generating more energy from wind and solar now are a broken planning system and archaic regulation for grid connections.
It is not inevitable that it should take 12 years to build a new wind farm, 4 years to build a new solar farm, or 8 years to build a new transmission line to take energy to where it is most needed.
Let's get building
To make Britain energy secure, we will need to more than triple the amount of energy generated from offshore wind, connect two new nuclear power stations to the grid, and build more grid infrastructure in the next seven years than was built in the last 32. It will mean accelerating the development of technologies such as hydrogen, batteries, and small modular reactors.
The challenge is massive – it will require genuine political will, major investments in new technologies, and innovation from industry – but so is the reward.
Getting the West Midlands back to what we're good at
Britain Remade’s role is to act as a broker between our supporters in the West Midlands and politicians in Westminster. We will campaign for practical solutions to support the region and its people – making sure politicians are listening.
The West Midlands can have decent jobs, affordable housing, and clean, cheaper and secure energy. Britain Remade will campaign to make this a reality.
WHAT WE ARE DOING IN YOUR AREA
Over the next year we’ll be hosting a series of events with Britain Remade supporters in West Midlands. Keep an eye on this page and sign-up to the campaign for updates.