Chris Kelly MP today welcomed his colleague, Chancellor of the Exchequer - the Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP - to Bri-Mac Engineering Limited in Brierley Hill.

Mr Kelly commented: "I was delighted that the Chancellor accepted my invitation to visit one of the engineering jewels in Dudley South's manufacturing crown on the Thornleigh Trading Estate in Brierley Hill. Bri-Mac's owner and Managing Director, Paul McCairn, contacted me before the General Election and I arranged to visit the company shortly after I was elected to Parliament. Bri-Mac is a great example of niche Black Country manufacturing of the kind that will help us grow our economy out of recession and enable us to pay back our debts. The company exports 45% of its production of bearing housings, plummer blocks and pillow blocks to countries as far away as Mexico and as close as Germany. We want to help manufacturing companies like Bri-Mac to recruit, train and retain the next generation of engineering employees and give them the confidence to begin hiring once again following several years of recruitment freezes and redundancies."

Mr Osborne's visit coincided with the announcement today by HM Treasury of the details of the £1 billion Regional Growth Fund, announced in Mr Osborne's emergency Budget last month, to help areas with a high dependency on public sector employment adjust to reductions in public spending. Mr Kelly commented: "The panel to consider bid applications will be chaired by Lord Heseltine. I will be working with my Conservative colleagues to make sure that the Black Country gets it fair share of this new money to help foster economic growth and private sector job creation."

Mr Kelly added: "The new Local Economic Partnerships we have announced will replace the bureaucratic Regional Development Agencies, such as Advantage West Midlands, and enable local businesses to set economic and development priorities in conjunction with democratically elected and controlled local authorities."

• Click here for a full set of photographs from the visit.
• Click here for coverage in the Express & Star.

Photographs © Paul C. Wynn

23th July 2010