The Leaders’ Summit

Rebuilding Britain, lessons and opportunities from Coventry

Friday 9th July, 2pm – 6pm

The Leaders' Summit on Friday 9th July will bring together leaders from across Britain who would not normally meet; it is very much a working day to hear powerful insights and analysis and to start pulling together the core principles of how to make post-Covid recovery a catalyst for healthier and cleaner growth and rebuilding Britain

If you would like an invitation please contact Georgie Pike

Leaders’ Summit Programme

Rebuilding Britain – lessons and opportunities from and for Coventry

Themes

  • Showcase how this extraordinary city cluster can deliver for the UK in its key growth sectors;  green growth, healthy growth, creative growth and interconnectivity
  • Provide examples of best practice from across the UK in growth, sustainability and regeneration
  • Rooted strongly in place: Coventry and its hinterland: its past, present and promise for the future

What’s On

Keynotes

The Rt. Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The Rt. Hon Liam Byrne MP, former Minister for the Cabinet Office

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands

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Breakouts

Round Table discussion: How do we grow?

These will be a free flowing, facilitated roundtable discussion on the implications of the related theme for the Coventry, the Midlands and the UK as a whole.  It will be led by participants and might consider issues such as the opportunities and challenges locally and regionally, the business framework and how Britain can take advantage to drive regeneration, and the type of policy reforms necessary to drive growth.

Themes

Green Growth – Chaired by Stephen Kinnock MP

Health Growth – Chaired by Margot James

Creative and Inclusive Growth – Chair to be announced

Connected Growth – Chaired by Eleanor Hevey, UK Advocacy Director, Eleanor Crook Foundation

Speakers

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP

Kwasi is the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for Spelthorne since 2010.

Kwasi is the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for Spelthorne since 2010.

Born in London in 1975, Kwasi has a BA and PhD in History from Cambridge. Prior to entering Parliament, Kwasi worked as a financial analyst and author. Since being elected, Kwasi has served on a number of Select Committees and has served as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Leader of the House of Lords and the Chancellor of the Exchequer as well as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union.

In July 2019 he was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Kwasi has consistently supported local enterprise and regularly calls for business-friendly reforms in Parliament. To find the local entrepreneurs of tomorrow, he launched the Spelthorne Business Plan Competition in 2013. The competition has run successfully every year since.

Shadow Minister, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

Stephen Kinnock MP

Stephen Kinnock is the Labour MP for Aberavon. He was born in Tredegar in 1970, and has kept strong and continuing links to South Wales throughout his life. He joined the Labour Party when he was 15 and is a proud member of Community trade union and the Co-operative Party.

Kwasi is the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for Spelthorne since 2010.

Born in London in 1975, Kwasi has a BA and PhD in History from Cambridge. Prior to entering Parliament, Kwasi worked as a financial analyst and author. Since being elected, Kwasi has served on a number of Select Committees and has served as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Leader of the House of Lords and the Chancellor of the Exchequer as well as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union.

In July 2019 he was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Kwasi has consistently supported local enterprise and regularly calls for business-friendly reforms in Parliament. To find the local entrepreneurs of tomorrow, he launched the Spelthorne Business Plan Competition in 2013. The competition has run successfully every year since.

Shadow Minister, Home Office

Jess Phillips MP

Jess Phillips is a Labour Party politician who became the MP for the constituency of Birmingham Yardley at the 2015 general election.

Jess Phillips is a Labour Party politician who became the MP for the constituency of Birmingham Yardley at the 2015 general election.
Jess has committed her life to improving the lives of others, especially the most vulnerable. Before becoming an MP, Jess worked for Women’s Aid in the West Midlands developing services for victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, human trafficking and exploitation. She became a councillor in 2012, in this role she worked tirelessly to support residents, with her work being recognised when she became Birmingham's first ever Victims Champion.
Since becoming an MP, Jess has continued her fight to support those who need it the most and has earned a reputation for plain speaking since being elected, unfazed by threats and calling out sexist attitudes as she promotes women’s rights.
Jess has written two bestselling books ‘Everywoman One Woman’s Truth About Speaking The Truth’ and ‘Truth to Power: 7 Ways to Call Time on BS’. Both books reflect her commitment to speaking up and having the courage to have your voice heard and make a difference.
Former Minister for Life Science in the Coalition Gov, Chair of the Prime Ministers Policy Board & Minister of State for Decarbonisation and Digitisation at DfT, he left the front bench in 2020 to focus on the politics of regeneration & renewal.
West Midlands Mayor

Andy Street

Before becoming Mayor, Andy combined a career at John Lewis, Britain’s most successful workers’ co-operative, with a host of high-profile economic development roles, working with local and national government.

Before becoming Mayor, Andy combined a career at John Lewis, Britain’s most successful workers’ co-operative, with a host of high-profile economic development roles, working with local and national government.

Starting on the John Lewis graduate scheme, Andy rose through the ranks to become managing director, overseeing one of the most successful periods in the company’s history.

He was also chair of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) between 2011 and 2016, helping to build the relationships that have underpinned the economic growth of the region.

Additionally, he has been lead non-executive director for the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group.

Outside of work, Andy is passionate about the arts, particularly in the West Midlands, having previously served as vice chairman of Performances Birmingham Limited, which is responsible for running the city’s Symphony and Town Halls.

In June 2015, Andy was awarded the CBE for services to the national economy. He was named ‘Most Admired Leader’ by business magazine, Management Today in 2014 and received the ‘President’s award’ from the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce for his work in the region. He holds three honorary degrees from Birmingham City University, Aston University and the University of Birmingham.

Founder, Big Tent Foundation

George Freeman MP

Founder of the civic renewal campaigns MindTheGap! (2002) and PositivePolitics (2004), before his election to Parliament in 2010 after a 15 year career helping launch, finance & manage high growth start-ups in in technology venture capital, George founded Big Tent in 2017 as an antidote to the divisive partisan politics.

Founder of the civic renewal campaigns MindTheGap! (2002) and PositivePolitics (2004), before his election to Parliament in 2010 after a 15 year career helping launch, finance & manage high growth start-ups in in technology venture capital, George founded Big Tent in 2017 as an antidote to the divisive partisan politics.

Former Minister for Life Science in the Coalition Gov, Chair of the Prime Ministers Policy Board & Minister of State for Decarbonisation and Digitisation at DfT, he left the front bench in 2020 to focus on the politics of regeneration & renewal.

Executive Chair, WMG

Margot James

Margot James has had a wide ranging career which has spanned working for the UK Government and as a business woman. Both in business and government Margot has championed the need to expand opportunities for diverse groups of young people.

Margot James has had a wide ranging career which has spanned working for the UK Government and as a business woman. Both in business and government Margot has championed the need to expand opportunities for diverse groups of young people.

Margot served as Minister of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with responsibility for Digital, Telecoms and the Creative Industries, piloting the Data Protection Bill through Parliament, incorporating GDPR into UK law. Previously she served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with responsibility for small businesses, consumers and corporate governance, including labour markets.

Margot co-founded Shire Health Group and led its growth to over 100 staff, having created a market for industry sponsored public health campaigns. She led the successful transitioning of Shire Health Group to the multinational WPP in 2000.

She served on the Europe, Middle East and Africa Board of Ogilvy Mather, leading European healthcare programmes.

Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hodge Hill

Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP

The Rt Hon. Liam Byrne MP is the Shadow Mayor for the West Midlands, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, Chair of the Global Parliamentary Network of the IMF & World Bank, and Gwilym Gibbon Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.

The Rt Hon. Liam Byrne MP is the Shadow Mayor for the West Midlands, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, Chair of the Global Parliamentary Network of the IMF & World Bank, and Gwilym Gibbon Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.

A former Cabinet minister, Liam undertook some of the toughest jobs in the last Labour Government at the Home Office, in 10 Downing Street where as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, he coordinated cross-government programmes to combat the Great Financial Crisis, and in Her Majesty’s Treasury where, as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he designed Labour’s fiscal consolidation strategy. In Opposition, Liam served in a number of frontbench positions, chaired Labour’s Policy Review, founded and chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group on Inclusive Growth, and served on the Council of Europe.

A former Fulbright scholar at the Harvard Business School, Liam has written twenty books, chapters and pamphlets about economic history, development and foreign affairs. His history of British capitalism Dragons: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain was published in 2016. He is also the author of Black Flag Down: Counter Extremism, Defeating ISIS and Winning the Battle of Ideas; and Turning to Face the East: How Britain Prospers in the Asian Century. Liam is one of Westminster’s leading authorities on China. He helped kickstart the Economic & Finance Dialogue, co-founded the UK-China Young Leader’s Roundtable, and helps anchor the UK-China Leadership for the Future Forum.

Getting here
Coventry
Covid safety
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