Banging the Drum for Brum: Why the West Midlands Is Britain’s Best Investment Bet

Birmingham’s economy now stands at around £35.4 billion, the largest of any UK city outside London.

There’s something rather stirring about Birmingham hosting the UK’s first Regional Investment Summit outside London. Held at Edgbaston Stadium, the symbolism wasn’t lost on anyone with even a passing sense of civic pride. For once, the eyes of the investors were on us, not out of charity or curiosity, but because they finally see what we’ve known all along: Birmingham and the West Midlands are back in business.

This city, long written off as a faded giant of industry, is once again being talked about as one of the most investable regions in Britain. And for good reason. The hard numbers back it up. Birmingham’s economy now stands at around £35.4 billion, the largest of any UK city outside London. Last year, the wider West Midlands secured 127 foreign direct investment projects, with 67 landing right here in Birmingham, more than any other city beyond the capital.

Office space is being snapped up faster than it has been in years. In 2024 alone, over 846,000 square feet of offices were taken up across nearly a hundred deals, roughly 20 percent higher than the previous year. The energy is real. Even the business formation numbers tell their own story: Birmingham consistently tops the regional charts for start-ups, second only to London.

In short, we’re not just back on the map, we’re carving our own.

That’s not to say we’ve suddenly turned into paradise. For all the positive headlines, we can’t ignore the old cracks beneath the surface. Productivity remains stubbornly below the national average. Too many of our young people are leaving the region for opportunities elsewhere. And our planning and infrastructure systems still move at the speed of bureaucracy, not business.

But the biggest missed opportunity, the one that could yet trip us up, lies in skills.

For all the talk of innovation, investment, and regeneration, we’re still failing to train the next generation in the trades and crafts that keep a city alive. Bricklayers, electricians, machinists, fabricators, plasterers, the essential backbone of any real economy, are in desperately short supply. Instead, we’ve filled the gap with an army of short-term, under-resourced training providers and so-called further education innovators who promise results but deliver paperwork.

It’s no secret that some of these outfits are repeat offenders, long known to the authorities for running lightweight, box-ticking courses that churn out certificates rather than competence. Yet they’re allowed to keep operating because they’re cheap and politically convenient. It’s fiscal convenience masquerading as strategy, and it’s holding the region back.

If Birmingham is truly to become an investable powerhouse, we need to rebuild our skills base, not with slogans, but with real apprenticeships, proper workshops, and meaningful technical education. Industry still needs hands, not just laptops. A city that once trained the world’s finest craftsmen can’t outsource its own future to a spreadsheet.

The West Midlands has the talent, the heritage, and the raw drive to lead the country’s industrial revival. But if we keep neglecting the roots, the trades, the craft, the pride of making, the tree will never grow as tall as it should.

That’s why the Regional Investment Summit matters. It’s not just another business get-together. It’s a statement that the rest of Britain needs Birmingham firing on all cylinders. But investors don’t just buy buildings, they buy capability. And capability starts with people who can actually do the work.

So yes, let’s bang the drum for Brum. Let’s celebrate the momentum, the money, and the moment. But let’s also be honest enough to say what too few are willing to admit: we’ll never be the best investment bet in Britain until we start investing properly in ourselves.

Birmingham isn’t waiting for permission anymore. The question is whether the people in charge, the councils, colleges, and agencies who hold the purse strings, have the courage to catch up with the city they claim to lead.