It’s been just over a week since Richard Parker became mayor of the West Midlands, in the most dramatic result of this year’s elections. His win, against the power of “Brand Andy” Street, came as a shock – even to the man with the red rosette.
“I had only written a losing speech. I’m not a negative person at all, but I think the early signals coming from [vote] sampling was that it was going to be very difficult for me to win,” he said. “I was just trying to prepare myself the best way for a negative result.”
This is Parker’s first foray into politics, and the gruelling 12-hour count at Birmingham’s ICC – held up by multiple recounts and bundle checks due to the knife-edge result – was a tough introduction to the job.
“It was emotionally exhausting. It was all new to me, and when you’re in that bubble in the hall, you’re oblivious to the wider attention,” he said. “I had some friends who messaged me to say they spent seven hours following it, and it was better than watching some political thriller.”
The finale came at around 9pm, when Parker was announced as the winner and incumbent Street lost his job by just 1,500 votes.
But if the vote was gruelling, now the real work begins. Parker’s manifesto included plans to bring buses back under public control within two years, launch a social housebuilding programme and push more money into skills programmes to boost employment.
Having spent decades in business, the restraints of the role are already apparent to him and one of his first priorities is going to be lobbying government for more freedom over how money is spent.
“There is a risk that large sums of money that have been devolved can’t be used because the straitjacket imposed is just too tight,” he said. “I expect some early conversations with the government about how I can use resources better.”
People will also be carefully watching how Parker will handle Street’s legacy, and the many projects he has set in motion during his eight years as mayor. Street had an ambitious public transport plan which Parker said he is combing over to separate the stuff that is already in motion from that which is just “visionary”.
“I want my focus in the next four years to be on delivery,” he said. “I really don’t at this point in time want to have a lot of the people around me diverting time and energy on to things that will never happen, or are very unlikely to happen.”
Another of Street’s passion projects was working with the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, to create a largely privately funded alternative to the scrapped leg of HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester.
They unveiled their plans in February, but while Parker says he is happy to work with Burnham, he believes the plan will only work if “underwritten by a future government”.
“It’s something I’m keen to carry on with but my focus is on tangible projects that we can deliver here, that we have the funding for, that will make the biggest difference to people in the West Midlands,” he said.
He also admits work needs to be done to rebuild trust in Labour across all the communities he represents – such as in Birmingham, where a pro-Palestine independent candidate, Akhmed Yakoob, took 20% of the vote share.
Voters, particularly in Muslim communities, have expressed anger at the way the party has handled its stance on Gaza. “The work I’m putting into conversations with our inner-city communities is fabric to rebuilding that trust. I’ll continue to do that,” said Parker.
He said he wants to keep his focus squarely on the region he represents and said he hopes his work to revitalise “left-behind communities” will held bring back disillusioned voters.
He also believes his approach to the job will be different to Street – he wants to work collaboratively with local authorities, and had pointedly made an effort to meet the leaders of Conservative councils in the region ahead of the Labour ones.
“You’ll hear me using the word ‘we’ more than ‘I’. Our ability to impact change and make a difference simply with the role of the mayor, is actually quite limited,” Parker said.
“I can’t expect everyone leading an organisation across the West Midlands to align their priorities with me exactly, but the more aligned we are, the bigger difference we’ll make.”
