The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has urged his West Midlands counterpart to make sure he got the best financial deal from government.
“As the third city of the country you deserve a good deal,” he said.
“Don’t just accept the way this is being done in terms of a formula just being imposed on people.”
The advice came as Birmingham’s council leader, Councillor Ian Ward, announced that the number of covid cases is steadily going up in Birmingham.
At the West Midlands mayor’s weekly update webinar (Friday), he revealed that between 14 to 20 October there were 221 cases per 100,000.
This up from 200.9 per 100,000 in the previous seven days.
Social distancing not being observed
Councillor Ward said the rise was due to “interaction in private homes and student halls” where social distancing was not being observed.
“Our ask of government this week remains the same,” he said.
“We’re continuing to make the case for jobs and business in Birmingham. I’ve been speaking to business leaders and MPs in the region, we’ve pulled together a set of asks of government. Birmingham is already facing an unemployment crisis.”
Latest figures showed that there had been an increase in 33,500 of those out of work, with 69 percent more people claiming benefit since before the lock down in February.