Phil Bennion - Delivering for the West Midlands

Lib Dem MEP Phil Bennion has welcomed news that Shropshire Council has won the green light to run an EU-funded grants scheme to help small and medium-sized businesses in West Mercia and Staffordshire.

Shropshire Council has won funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to run a carefully targeted scheme to ‘plug the gap’ in specialist advice and help for small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire.

Phil Bennion and a group of Lib Dem MEPs joined protesters in Brussels today (Tuesday September 3rd) opposed to plans to restrict access to electronic cigarettes.

A top Labour MEP is leading the charge to regulate electronic cigarettes as medicinal products, a move which would significantly restrict their availability and increase costs for many users.

Wolverhampton and West Midlands MEP Phil Bennion is backing a call by city Lib Dems to build a BMX track in Lanesfield, Wolverhampton.

Phil met Lib Dem Focus team campaigners at the site at the back of Hilton Hall on Hilton Road on Wednesday August 7th, where he handed over a letter showing his formal support for its construction.

Prospects for more EU-funded research projects at Birmingham and Warwick universities have been boosted after MEPs and national ministers in Brussels agreed a £60 billion deal for a new EU research and innovation programme "Horizon 2020".

Over the past five years, the current EU framework programme (known as FP7) has brought EUR 3.

Plans for an expanded Birmingham Airport which could create a quarter of a million jobs would be a 'game-changer' for the West Midlands economy, according to the Lib Dem transport spokesman in the European Parliament, Phil Bennion MEP.

The airport, supported by a coalition of business leaders, has published an ambitious 50 year vision for future development, using a transport infrastructure maximising the benefits of high speed rail and re-opened conventional railways.