PUNISHED…FOR NOT VOTING LABOUR

The news that the bid by Birmingham and its fellow West Midland metropolitan authorities to become a City Region has been rejected by the Labour Government, is hardly the surprise of the century.  After all, when those same local authorities are controlled by politicians from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, it was always likely that the bid would be snubbed.

In recent days, the Leader of Birmingham City Council, Cllr. Mike Whitby (pictured), made a last minute plea to Alistair Darling to recognise the enormous impact the recession is having on Birmingham and the West Midlands. Birmingham itself has the worst unemployment blackspot in the country, worse even than Liverpool and the other northern cities that Labour bends over backwards to support.

Not Listened To. Cllr. Mike Whitby

However, where have  Birmingham’s Labour MPs been whilst this lobbying process has been taking place?   Where for instance, was Steve McCabe MP?  A man who is more than happy to attach his name to populist issues both in and outside his own constituency, yet when it comes to putting the region’s case to be given the freedom to drag itself out of the economic mess his own government has created his silence has been deafening.

A resident I met whilst leafleting in and around Pound Road, Druids Heath yesterday showed me Mr. McCabe’s latest Parliamentary Report which had recently been delivered to his home.  He was angry that the content bore little resemblance to reality, especially as he was sitting at home as a skilled painter and decorator twiddling his thumbs because  work on new housing projects across the West Midlands had dried up.

Mr. McCabe and his government hold the West Midlands, and Birmingham in particular, in sheer contempt.   The people of  Birmingham’s crime has been to vote for any party other than Labour, and my God are they going to make us pay for it.

On Saturday, myself, and Brandwood’s two Conservative councillors, Neville Summerfield, and Mark Hill, were out with the Parliamentary Spokesman for Selly Oak, Nigel Dawkins talking to local residents about the decaying state of the economy and how it was affecting their finances.   Their anger at how Labour has squandered billions of pounds on banks that won’t lend to them and on public services that have not improved was real and sincere.

What was clear, is that people are desperate to give their verdict on twelve years of Labour’s mismanagement of the UK’s finances and the consequent decline in the economic, social, and moral fabric of their country.

Alas, the opportunity for all of us to vote out this discredited and incompetent, is still some 14 months away. Nevertheless, that chance to boot Gordon Brown out of Downing Street, and Steve McCabe out of Brandwood will definitely come.