Mayor of the West Midlands

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has announced £5.3m worth of funding to help the region recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The money will be split between eight projects across the county, including supporting young people to learn digital skills, providing training for ex-offenders and supporting people over 50 in need.

Almost £600,000 will also be spent exploring options to regenerate the site of the former Chance Glass works in Smethwick and turn it into a community centre.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said he was "absolutely delighted" with the government funding.

Quote Message: Whether it is providing young people with digital skills to secure those well-paid jobs that are out there, or targeting help to those left behind to help them achieve their true potential, this cash will make a real difference to the lives of people right across the region. from Andy Street West Midlands Mayor

Whether it is providing young people with digital skills to secure those well-paid jobs that are out there, or targeting help to those left behind to help them achieve their true potential, this cash will make a real difference to the lives of people right across the region.

The Conservative West Midlands Mayor Andy Street says he agrees with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to extend Covid-19 restrictions until July.

Mr Street said extending restrictions until 19 July would mean more people would be able to get their coronavirus vaccine.

He admitted the delay was going to come "at a cost" to other industries such as hospitality but said without acting, there was the potential the country could go back to stronger restrictions.

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“If you have two jabs you are pretty safe from this variant, if you either have one jab or no jabs you are at risk of contracting Covid seriously," he said.

"There are still millions of people over 50 who have not had their two jabs and obviously we haven’t even offered the jab to people under 25.

“The point is going to come where we have to say we are going to have to live with this disease, that is absolutely right, but the point that I am making….is you have to get to a best proportion of the vulnerable population vaccinated before we make that change in strategy.”

Andy Street has been giving his reaction and looking ahead to his second term as mayor of the West Midlands.

After paying tribute to his rivals and his campaign team he said: "There is no question that the West Midlands faces serious challenges after the impact of Covid."

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But Mr Street added: "There is no question that the West Midlands will bounce back strongly, and that we will create the dynamic, meritocratic, inclusive society we all crave."

He closed by saying: "And together we can show Britain that something very special is being made in the West Midlands.”

Liam Byrne has been generous in defeat to his Conservative rival Andy Street.

In his speech he paid tribute to the work he has done in a difficult year in which Mr Street lost his mother.

And he said she would have been proud of what he has achieved.

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In the end he was not able to make up the 55,309 vote-shortfall after the first round of voting, picking up just 600 votes in Wolverhampton, around 300 in Walsall and around 5,000 in Birmingham.

This is not good news for Labour's Liam Byrne.

We've just seen the results of the second preference votes from the Wolverhampton area and it's pretty much an even split between them, with 1,719 for him and 1,144 for the Conservative candidate Andy Street.

If that trend continues he won't be able to make up the gap of 55,309 between them on the first preference votes.

The West Mids Mayoral election is going to another round, to allow second preference votes to be counted.

The Conservative candidate Andy Street achieved 49% of the vote with 299, 318 votes.

Labour's Liam Byrne got 40% of the vote with 244, 009.

With Street failing to get to 50 per cent of the vote share, it goes to the second preference.

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The votes are in from the Solihull count in the West Midlands Mayor election and Andy Street has had a comfortable win there too.

He received 41,664 votes to Liam Byrne's 9,515 for Labour.

As more results come in, it's starting to look like the Conservatives will win the West Midlands Mayor election.

As we said earlier, Labour led in the Birmingham count and they're ahead in Sandwell too - but only by around 5,000 votes.

And that should be a strong Labour area.

Andy Street has won the Wolverhampton and Walsall races by 2,795 votes and 15,123 votes respectively.

So it's going to be close, but this could still be decided on the first ballot preferences.

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We've got the results in for the Birmingham count in the West Midlands Mayor elections - and Labour are in the lead.

Their candidate, Liam Byrne, leads the Conservative Andy Street by 102,276 votes to 84,817.

But that's just one of the counts going on, and results elsewhere could turn that on its head.

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So when will we get a result in the West Midlands mayoral election?

There was speculation that yesterday’s blue sweep could mean a very good day for the Conservative candidate Andy Street and he could possibly even win it from first preference votes.

Fellow-Conservative Ben Adams won the Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner vote without the need to look at second preference votes yesterday.

But it was very close in the mayoral vote last time around.

Boris Johnson visited the region on Wednesday to show his support for the region's Conservative mayoral candidate Andy Street.

Mr Johnson joined the current mayor, who is seeking re-election, on one of the region's cycle-for-hire bikes which he said "looked very familiar".

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Later that day Sir Keir Starmer was in Birmingham supporting his party's candidate in the mayoral election, Liam Byrne.

He spoke to students and asked them how they'd been coping with the pandemic.

We're not expecting the results of the mayor position until Saturday.

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