Welcome to Money Talks – a series of interviews with Liam Halligan, Economics and Business Editor of GB News.  

In this episode, Liam talks to Ian Ward, the Labour leader of Birmingham City Council. 

Having entered local government in the mid-1990s, Ward has led Birmingham City Council since 2017. Keen to promote Birmingham’s both nationally and overseas, he spearheaded the successful 2022 Commonwealth Games bid, having already helped bring a number of high-profile international sporting events to Birmingham. 

In this interview, conducted in Birmingham Council Headquarters, Ward discusses the importance of “levelling up” the UK economy, particularly the Midlands – and argues that the government’s recent Budget measures will do little to bring about a more regionally-balanced economy.

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Welcome to Money Talks – a series of interviews with Liam Halligan, Economics and Business Editor of GB News.

In this episode Liam speaks to Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands since 2017, representing the Conservatives.

Raised in Birmingham, Street started his career as a John Lewis trainee in 1985, rising through the ranks to become Managing Director in 2007.

Under his leadership, the iconic chain saw a 50 per cent increase in sales, a doubling in the number of stores and the growth of the company's online sales department.

In this interview, Street defends the government’s “levelling-up” policies, highlighting the importance of the enterprise zones outlined in Jeremy Hunt’s March 2023 budget.

But Street also urges Hunt to “think again” about the removal of assistance for businesses with “sky-high energy bills”. He says some manufacturers and hospitality companies have been “locked-in to contracts with artificially high prices” – and calls on the government to “force” energy providers to renegotiate such agreements in light of recent falls in wholesale energy prices.

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Welcome to Money Talks – a series of interviews with Liam Halligan, Economics and Business Editor of GB News.  

In this episode, Liam talks to Home Secretary Suella Braverman. 

Braverman was born and raised in London. Her parents emigrated to the UK from Kenya and Mauritius respectively. After studying law at Cambridge, Braverman was a barrister before entering Parliament as MP for the Conservative stronghold of Fareham, Hampshire in 2015. 

Braverman moved swiftly through the ministerial ranks, becoming Brexit Minister in 2018 then Attorney General in 2020. And now, as Home Secretary, she holds one of the four Great Offices of State. 

In this detailed interview, recorded in the Home Office in late February 2023, Braverman outlines why her childhood made her a Conservative, defends the government’s “small boats” policy and explains why the UK may eventually need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights – while reflecting on why she attracts so many negative headlines.

“I see my job as telling the truth and fixing problems,” she says. “And sometimes, when the truth is uncomfortable, people get upset”. 

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