Like many of you I’m excited at the prospect of the Commonwealth games coming back to the UK in Birmingham in 2022. But as we are just three years away from those games, it’s vital that the government has a long term plan in place to ensure that the economic, social and sporting benefits of hosting the games are not just restricted to the conurbation.

I asked the minister that question today and she assured me that the work is in progress to ensure that the benefits previous host cities such as Glasgow and the Gold Coast in Australia to the wider economy was part of their plan.

I’ll be following this up in the coming weeks to ensure that our region, just a few stops up the M6 can share in that success.