Last modified on Thu 4 Mar 2021 05.02 EST
Birmingham, with its proud manufacturing heritage, has been hit hard by the Covid jobs crisis and is in the unhappy position of being among one of the areas with the highest unemployment rates in the country at 7.8%.
Five of the 10 constituencies with the highest level of unemployment in the country are in Britain’s second city, and average gross weekly pay currently sits at £548.60 – below the averages for the wider West Midlands region and for Great Britain.
In a scene repeated up and down the country, lockdown has left the city centre deserted – a particular blow for Birmingham. The city had bet big on high street retail in recent years with the redevelopment of the Bullring, known for the undulating silver facade of the Selfridges department store at its heart, and a shopping centre built as part of the overhaul of New Street station, featuring a vast new John Lewis .