Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has launched a new £150m covid recovery fund on the first day of his new term in office.
Mayor Rotheram was re-elected to the position he has held since it was created in 2017 over the weekend, with a thumping majority on the first round of voting.
And as he was sworn in for his second term he announced the £150m fund, which he said will create jobs and support businesses as the region emerges from the devastation of the pandemic.
The fund formed a kay part of Mayor Rotheram's manifesto and he said he would now repay the trust placed in him by voters by getting to work on helping the region to emerge successfully from the pandemic.
This new investment is expected to formally be confirmed by the government in the coming days.
Announcing the new funding, Mayor Rotheram said: "I promised people that if they put their trust in me again, that I’d get to work straight away on rebuilding and improving our region after COVID.
"I’m delighted to say that after talks with government we are set to receive this new funding for the city region.
“This is new money that will help us get a jump start on our recovery ahead of the rest of the country, investing in projects that will power our economy and creating and safeguarding jobs, and delivering much-needed hope to people and businesses across the region."
He added: “But this is just the start of my ambitions. This money will underpin hundreds of millions of pounds in investments from other funds from transport, to skills, to housing.
“I’ve just received an overwhelming mandate from the people of the Liverpool City Region and I’ll be using it to press the Government to invest in our Economic Recovery Plan, which would deliver nearly £9bn of benefit to our region and create over 120,000 jobs. "
