What we learned in Birmingham: takeaways from the first ever regional summit

West Midlands mayor Richard Parker says the region’s first ever investment summit will go down as a huge success, after business leaders and front bench ministers alike descended on Birmingham this week.

Over 350 delegates were in attendance in a packed conference hall, as business secretary Peter Kyle used his keynote speech to announce a blitz on what he described as “needless” regulation, placing unnecessary burdens on the region’s businesses, while chancellor Rachel Reeves was keen to highlight several huge investment schemes in the region.

Here are some of our takeaways from a busy day of speeches and conference events at Edgbaston.

Levelling-up – still an empty slogan, or back in fashion?

It’s been a while since we first heard the words “levelling-up” from the government, a regional investment policy first mooted by the Conservative Party in 2019, and dismissed by Prime Minister Kier Starmer as an “empty slogan” all the way back in 2022.

But if (perhaps understandably) the Labour government don’t seem especially keen to utter what was once Boris Johnson’s most cherished catch-phrase, they seem to have got into the spirit of it – with chancellor Rachel Reeves reassuring delegates including regional mayors that “no region will be locked out of investment”, as she shone a spotlight on the UK’s regional opportunities in areas such as housing, infrastructure, AI and energy.

In a 15-minute address to business leaders, she said around £63 billion of investment had already been committed to the UK in the past year, which was set to benefit regional economies in the Midlands via schemes such as the Birmingham Knowledge Quarter, Nottingham’s Broad Marsh regeneration scheme, and the extension of the Midlands Metro.

She said she believed that the only viable strategy for growth is one that rests on “strong and broad foundations with the contribution of every part of our country.”

“If we’re going to achieve our potential and if we’re going to spread that opportunity right across the UK, including to here in the West Midlands,” she said.

“It’s really important that we do protect the investment that we’re putting in, particularly that regional investment, because the weakness of the UK economy these last 14 years has been because of a lack of growth and productivity. So investing in transport, in energy, infrastructure in data centres and broadband are absolutely essential.”

Government talks tough on red tape… again.

The current government would hardly be the first administration in history to claim business would be booming, if only it wasn’t for all those pesky Whitehall pen-pushers slowing everything down – but they are certainly committed to the bit.

Some of the key announcements in the build-up to the summit focused on stripping out government bureaucracy, which business secretary Peter Kyle said was holding the country back in the face of a “national growth emergency”.

Business secretary Peter Kyle addressed delegates at the regional investment summit in Birmingham. Credit: Mike Sheridan / Place Midlands

On Tuesday (21 October), Kyle said fixing the country’s growth problem required an “unrelenting focus on pro-business policies”.

Despite a nod back to the fiscal crisis of 2008 earlier in his conference speech, which suggested things might be a little more complex, he said “stripping away the needless rules, over-regulation, and Whitehall red tape that hold back business and stifle economic growth” was the immediate priority.

“Regulation that restricts growth requires a rewrite or the rubbish bin. British business shouldn’t have to put up with it,” he said.

“Just as there are too many pointless administrative regulatory burdens, there are too many regulators. So, the regulators themselves will not go untouched by these reforms.

“Where we identify regulators that are doubling up, stepping on each other’s toes, or out of touch with the realities of the modern economy, we will streamline them. Where their role is redundant, we will end them.”

The business secretary kicked off his purge on so-called out-of-touch regulators by announcing a review of the Office for Road and Rail, and scrapping the British Hallmarking Council – a little-known non-departmental public body, already sponsored by the Department for Business & Trade.

Later that morning, Rachel Reeves said reducing administrative burdens on businesses would save them £6bn a year by the end of this Parliament. That’s on top of a claimed £2bn to be achieved by speeding up the planning process through the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill, currently going through parliamentary reports but expected to become law in 2026.

Artificial Intelligence to the fore

Also high up the agenda: the government’s plan for further investment in high-tech industries such as artificial intelligence, medical manufacturing, digital hubs and advanced infrastructure as key to future regional competitiveness.

The chancellor’s keynote speech was backed up by the announcement of two major life sciences investments, with Stoke-based medical firm Biocomposites set to expand its manufacturing facility in Staffordshire, while Sterling Pharmaceuticals are set to build a 60,000 sq ft centre in Birmingham’s Longbridge, a move set to boost UK production of medicines for the NHS and sales overseas.

She said the government would also launch a consultation on a “cross-economy AI sandbox” which would allow new AI products to be developed “under supervision by regulators” – although presumably not the ones Peter Kyle is hoping to scrap.

With artificial intelligence undoubtedly set to touch all of our lives in some way – for better or for worse, depending on your point of view – she said the government would be accelerating approvals for the use of AI in sectors like legal services, advanced manufacturing, and planning assessments.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority is also set to publish an investor roadmap outlining the steps to launching commercial drone operations by 2027, which the government says has the potential to generate up to £66bn in business revenues over the next 25 years.

“Regional investment matters because economic growth matters, for the wealth and jobs it creates, for the public services it fuels, for the future prosperity it generates, for our nations, regions and communities,” added Kyle.

“The jobs and investments announced at today’s summit are a clear demonstration of this government’s commitment to delivering on its plan for change and growing the economy—by making the UK the most attractive place in Europe to start, scale, and succeed in business.“