Money Talks with Liam Halligan Liam Halligan

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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Welcome to Money Talks – a series of interviews with Liam Halligan, Economics and Business Editor of GB News.  
 
In this episode, Liam talks to Lorraine Bliss, who runs St Edmunds, in Norwich. 
 
An award-winning charity, St Eds – as it’s known – provides vocational training to some 250 teenagers from across East Anglia – some of regular school age, others who are 16-plus. 
 
There are over a million young people in the UK not in education, employment or training for work - so-called NEETS. Their numbers have soared since Covid lockdown.
Students at St Ed’s have often been excluded from school, leaving with no qualifications.
But despite receiving no direct government funding, and relying heavily on contributions from local business, Lorraine and her staff teach teenagers hands-on skills – from bricklaying to hair and beauty, from motor-mechanics to carpentry – that can help them earn a decent living.

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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 Asher Bennett, Founder and CEO of Tevva – a company based in Tilbury, Essex, that makes dual-fuel hydrogen/battery trucks. 
Tevva opened its Tilbury factory in January 2022, and already employs 300 workers. Its dual-fuel trucks, which combine both a lithium-ion battery and a hydrogen fuel cell, have a range of hundreds of miles and can be refuelled with hydrogen in just 10 minutes, making carbon-free truck fleets commercially viable.
With around a fifth of all carbon-emissions worldwide caused by the road haulage industry, Bennett says that the use of dual-fuel hydrogen/battery eco-trucks could make a major contribution to meeting “net zero” targets.
He also explains why, in his view, “the UK is an amazing place to do business”.

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In this episode, Liam talks to John Penrose, the government’s competition Tsar. 
 
Penrose has been the Conservative MP for Weston-super-Mare since 2005, having previously worked for JP Morgan and McKinsey. He has also served as a minister in several government departments, including the Northern Ireland Office. 
 
In 2021, John wrote the “Power to the People”, a government-commissioned independent report on competition policy, designed to shape new laws to “make capitalism work for all” as the British economy develops outside the European Union. 
 
In this detailed interview, and ahead of the publication of an updated Penrose report later this year, John discusses his views on the Autumn statement, ways to improve consumer protection and the need to “reclaim supply-side economics”. 

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