The collapse of the property market is holding up a decision on whether thousands of Ministry of Justice jobs come to Birmingham.

And Lord Chancellor Jack Straw was giving little away when he addressed the Financing Recovery conference at Aston University yesterday (THURSDAY 29th)

A host of cities are campaigning to win the relocation which could ultimately mean 5-6,000 posts moving out of London.

The merits of Birmingham were emphasised to Mr Straw by Glyn Pitchford, Business Voice WM business representative on the City Region board, who told him: "Birmingham is clearly a great venue."

And, in answering the question, Mr Straw acknowledged that Birmingham MPs were "biting my legs" for a decision.

But he declined Mr Pitchford's entreaties for an announcement there and then.

Mr Straw said the possible relocation was part of an overall programme in terms of "making government smarter".

But issues surrounding the commercial property market and property values had complicated matters.

However, he "recognised the case" being presented for the MoJ to move out of the capital.

Asked whether a decision was now off until after the forthcoming General Election - likely to take place next May or June - he denied that it was being held back as a consequence.

Expectations had been raised because the media had picked up the fact that preliminary inquiries had been made of property specialists and the result was that some people were adding two plus two and making six.

He noted: "We are having to study it carefully. The timetable is being affected by upfront costs of £50 million and the reduction in property prices which has affected the value of the assets being released."

In his speech Mr Straw acknowledged that the West Midlands had been hit hard by the recession.

That was because it had a higher proportion of jobs in manufacturing.

And he admitted: "The area has seen the sharpest fall in business output of the English regions over the last year. Businesses have also shed jobs at a faster rate."

And he bemoaned the West Midlands' "relatively weak" skill levels.

He cautioned: "It is telling that during this recession people with no qualifications have seen a 5.8 percentage point rise in their unemployment rate, compared to 2.9 per cent for those with any level of qualification."

The Government would continue to support the economy until sure the recession was over.

But he added: "We must rebuild fiscal strength for the years ahead. That is why we are raising taxes on high incomes and taking tough decisions on public spending - cutting costs, cutting waste and cutting lower priority budgets while continuing to invest in our priorities and our future."

The UK national debt was still running below the rate of most other major industrial nations.