It was a pleasure to welcome the West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street to Aldridge-Brownhills and I was delighted he was able to join me earlier today on an industry visit to Castings PLC in Brownhills.

Castings is an extremely important part of our local economy employing more than 1,200 people, exporting more than 80% of their goods to markets across the world. 

The visit gave Andy and myself a further insight into the issues facing the manufacturing sector across our local area as well as seeing first-hand the importance of frictionless trade to the sector and wider economy. I would like to thank Chief Executive Officer, Adam Vicary and Board Chairman, Brian Cooke for hosting our visit and site tour and Andy Street for joining me earlier today.