Results of mayoral election will have 'major impact ' - Chamber president

Results of today 's West Midlands Mayoral election will have a “major impact on the future of our region ”, Steve Allen, president of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC), has said, urging regional residents to head to the polls.

Polling stations across Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall local authority areas opened at 7am for electors to cast their votes in the second Mayoral election.

The first West Midlands Mayoral election took place in 2017, where Conservative candidate Andy Street was elected as the region 's first mayor.

Mr Street is vying to be re-elected, alongside four other candidates.

Candidates are:

Liam Byrne (Labour)

Steve Caudwell (Green)

Pete Durnell (Reform UK)

Andy Street (Conservative)

Jenny Wilkinson (Liberal Democrats)

Local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections are also taking place today.

Polling closes at 10pm tonight.

In a plea for West Midlands residents to cast their ballots, Mr Allen, writing in his Birmingham Post column today, said that regional leadership has never been so important.

He says: “Arguably, as we emerge from hopefully our last lockdown, the need for regional leadership has never been more important. Our region needs a strong voice to work with the government to lead the region through the pandemic and establish a platform which will allow businesses to grow and flourish as national restrictions ease and the threat of Covid-19 diminishes.

“It 's also important that we have a regional figurehead to coalesce stakeholders across the region to secure the maximum benefits from vital projects such as HS2 and the Commonwealth Games and raise the importance of our region on the international stage. ”

Mr Allen added no matter what the outcome of the election, the GBCC will continue to work with the mayor 's office on behalf of the business community.

“As the largest and most influential business group in the region, the Chambers of Commerce will aim to partner with the West Midlands Mayor to ensure that the views and interests of the business community are clearly reflected in the individual candidates ' policy programmes, ” he said and added:

“Voting on today is a democratic right and the result of this election will have a major impact on the future of our region. ”