Why Albert’s clinging on is becoming Bore-ing

Not for the first time in his (very) long political career, Sir Albert is facing a challenge in his leadership not only of the Labour Group, but also away from the election cycle, the Council itself.  Since the release of Lord Kerslake’s inquiry report into the activities of Birmingham City Council – an inquiry Albert will say he helped instigate – the soundings coming from both Bob Kerslake and Communities Secretary Greg Clark have been rather negative.

The rhetoric coming from the Council leadership would have you believe there is nothing wrong and that the political leadership was moving at the pace of change required by Kerslake & the Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel.  Indeed, having had the pleasure (sarc) of sitting through group meetings, I will be honest and say Albert’s body language, tone and comments are/were very arrogant and dismissive.  You only have to read the comments by Albert in his interview with Neil Elkes to see his dismissive arrogance.  Saying either Government or the Labour Group would have to drag him out of office shows he puts his own personal agenda above that of the citizens of Birmingham.

That’s where the problem lies.  For too long, Albert has had a dictatorial grasp on the Labour Group, with talented Councillors who aren’t afraid to speak up, have their own opinion constantly sidelined and ostracised.  I’ve had first hand experience of this.  Albert surrounds himself with people who won’t rock the boat, or so he thought.

The resignation from his cabinet post by James McKay took everyone by surprise, not just Albert.  James, like me has obviously grown tired of the Leader and his inability to convince the Labour Group and the Council in general that he will drive Birmingham City Council forward at the pace and direction required by Kerslake, Clark & BIIP.  There is also a number of other disgruntled Labour Cllrs who want a faster pace of change and a new Leader but, apart from one or two, have yet to show their hand.

Val Seabright’s resignation from her position as Secretary of the Birmingham Labour Group comes as no surprise.  Val’s position as Group Sec was constantly undermined by the Leader.  In my conversations with Val in her time as Group Secretary, I could see her frustrations with Albert’s dictatorial nature and the lack of involvement in decision-making of the Group Officers and Executive.

The perennial challenger to Albert, a certain John Clancy, is again circling the leader like a hungry shark.  Now I like John as a person and agree with him on many economic ideas for the City, but he has challenged Albert on three separate occasions without success. Does John still have the credibility to challenge again?  I don’t think he does.  Rumour has it a collection of Overview and Scrutiny Chairs are pondering resigning their posts unless Albert goes.  That’s all well and good but personally I can’t see Albert batting an eye lid if this happens.

The only way Albert will be unseated in my honest opinion, short of the embarrassment of being taken over by Government commissioners, will be if a large majority of Labour Cllrs resign the whip & leave the Labour Group.  That is about as likely to happen as Aston Villa winning the Premier League this season.

Albert thinks his legacy will be the large-scale redevelopment of Birmingham over the last 25 years.  The next week or so will decide if it is.  If he resigns, it will be.  If he doesn’t, he will be remembered for being the Leader who relinquished control of Birmingham City Council to Government commissioners.

Don’t you need an election for that Bobby?

I was a little perplexed by comments from the Leader of the Birmingham Conservative Group Robert Alden, following the resignation of James McKay.   Bobby demanded the Leadership and whole Cabinet resign and let his group take control of the Council.  Now if there was a hung Council with no overall control, the comments would have merit. However, as the Labour Group has a large majority in the chamber, this is not feasible or constitutionally possible unless an election is called or a large majority of Labour Cllrs resign the whip and leave the Labour Group.  Sometimes the brain needs to be engaged before one’s mouth is allowed to open.

Improvement Panel Report/Boundary Commission get it right (almost)

This last week saw the latest report from the Birmingham Independent Improvement panel, followed swiftly by the Boundary Commission report on the numbers of Councillors required to run Birmingham.

The Improvement Panel report – I received a copy 1 minute before the media – did contain positive comments, especially regarding the reduction of Scrutiny Committee’s, the reclassification of District & Ward Committee remits and the delegation of HR functions to a Cabinet Member.   However, the report was not so positive about the recruitment of Senior Management to compliment the (excellent) Chief Executive, nor the attitudes of the Political leadership of the Council when it comes to change and financial management.

Those are not my words as the report states; “While the panel commends the energy and commitment demonstrated by the Chief Executive and his team, there remain questions of whether the senior political leadership fully understands the scale of change required.  We are not yet seeing the radical shifts necessary to address the starkest of Lord Kerslake’s criticisms relating to the Council’s future”.

Personally, I agree.  The Leader’s ‘end of local government as we know it’ speech gave the Council a real chance to form cooperative and collaborative partnerships with social enterprises, private and third sector providers.  But to move toward becoming a real cooperative Council, the leadership, cabinet members and senior officers must grasp the mantle and move away from the relentless commissioning mentality that has become engrained over the last 2 decades.  To cooperate, the Council must become an equal partner rather than the commissioning body, allowing a pooling of resources, delivering complete wraparound services for our citizens.

To be honest I’ve been saying this since 2010, but who listens to me?

A quick muse on the Boundary Commission report.  When Lord Kerslake announced the size of the Council was to be reviewed, I for one saw a great opportunity to reduce the number of Councillors – something I’ve been voicing for a number of years.  However I believe 100 is still too many and believe 80 would be a more sensible suggestion.  100 however is a start and I personally look forward to getting involved in shaping the new ward boundaries before I step down from the Council.

Labour lose face with membership over Welfare Bill vote

Firstly, I want to spell this out clearly.  Welfare – or Social Security to give it the correct title – is in need of reform and make it pay to work.  These were the principles and values used when Social Security was introduced by Clem Atlee’s Labour Government.  However, the measures laid out by the Tory Government are a retrograde step that will take the most poor and vulnerable in society further toward, or further into poverty.

For one, I am not surprised in the least the Tories have attacked the most vulnerable in bringing forward the Welfare Bill, especially with Cameron, Osborne & Duncan-Smith pulling the strings.  Their track record since 2010 on attacking the working poor, the disabled and the dying speaks for itself.

What I didn’t expect was the response of the party of which I am a member, a party whom I represent on Birmingham City Council, a party (supposedly) committed to social justice and equality, and a party claiming to represent the many, not the few.  So the actions of most of the Parliamentary Labour Party this past week left a sour taste in my mouth.

In the first instance, the Labour front bench team did exactly what was expected of them in putting forward amendments to change the measures in the bill attacking the working poor, disabled etc.  That is how Her Majesties Opposition would be expected to do business.  What followed however is nothing short of farcical.

Once the vote(s) on Labour’s amendments were lost I falsely believed the Parliamentary Labour Party would vote on mass to reject the bill as a whole.  As a division was called on whether the bill should move forward, I began to wonder if the Labour front bench were just chilling out for a few minutes, biding their time before moving into the opposition voting lobby.  As the minutes ticked by and they still remained seated, I knew they and all but 48 of the Parliamentary Labour Party had abstained.  If I was a Labour MP in the chamber that night, I would have voted against the bill as a whole because I would have stood true to the values I believe in – supporting and representing the many.

What followed that was even more gut churning.  On social media and websites, those Labour MP’s who put image over values were rushing out statements using words like ‘collective responsibility’.

COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY?  Really.  From what I have read on social media from the majority of grassroot members/activists, the only collective responsibility on Labour MPs at the time of the vote was to VOTE AGAINST, show they represent the many and thus retaining their values and integrity.

A wake up call? You betcha

The by-election results in the early hours of Friday have shaken the political establishment to the core. In Clacton, the Tories suffered a monumental defeat, albeit from an incumbent MP with a huge majority from 2010. In Heywood and Middleton the story was a little different. Labour almost lost in one of its traditional heartlands to UKIP. Thankfully for us Liz McInnes scraped home by 617 votes.

The narrative from Labour Party HQ in the hours following the election was pretty poor to say the least. Front benchers constantly tweeting of posting on Facebook of “We actually increased our vote share by 1%”. Firstly, 2010 was not a good year for us in the Labour Party when it came to share of the vote, so comparisons to this are just not credible. Secondly, when increasing the vote share, the idea is to win the seat with a comfortable or huge majority. This didn’t happen. UKIP were the beneficiaries of a gargantuan swing & almost a second Parliamentary seat.

For a while now the three main parties have treated UKIP with, as my Longbridge colleague Cllr Jess Phillips tweeted yesterday, “arrogance and contempt” and that we should as a party nationally “take UKIP seriously”. I agree with Jess entirely. Before May 22nd 2014 I saw the extent of the dissent and disillusionment of the electorate toward the three main parties and the prominent rise of UKIP whilst out on the doorstep. The amount of voters who’d canvassed and voted Labour in the past was a huge concern to me. The trouble was, the message wasn’t getting through to the leadership locally or nationally, despite my best efforts and it cost Labour seats across Birmingham.

Over the last 24 hours there has been a call for the Labour Party to change its message and direction on The EU and immigration by our own MPs, including Shadow Cabinet members. I fundamentally agree we must develop a credible policy on both issues. I urge Labour look seriously at its position re “the free movement of labour” across the EU and move to a fair movement of labour stance. We must propose an EU wide movement of labour cap, using a points based system based on skills and need. To do this, Labour must be bold and move toward a renegotiation of our role and position within the EU that benefits the UK when it comes to employment.

Despite what UKIP and the Eurosceptic wing of the Tory party say, the benefits of being part of the EU far outweighs the negatives. The right wing press would have you believe the UK doesn’t get a return on the money we pay in to the EU, but they only show you money in v money out figure. What they fail to tell you is the real terms benefit as a result of the EU grants we receive.

Prior to the local election in May I stressed to the Birmingham Labour Group that our message on Europe was weak saying we needed to show the benefits to Birmingham of being part of the EU, to counteract the threat of UKIP. The redevelopment of Birmingham New St, the redevelopment of Victoria Square, the ICC/NIA, skills training funding, social funding to rebuild communities are prime examples. Birmingham is has become a city of inward investment and tourism. The GVA and benefit to the UK and local economy, and the treasury tax revenue generated by the financial assistance of the EU, far outstrips the outlay. Unfortunately my suggestion fell on deaf ears.

UKIP are here for the long haul. If my party doesn’t realise that and act, the likelihood of a Labour Government in May 2015 will diminish by the day.

Devolution – Will it become a reality?

Over the last few weeks, apart from if you’ve holidayed on the moon, the subject of devolution has been a huge topic of discussion. During the last few days of the Scottish independence referendum, the main Westminster political parties came together with “the vow” of greater devolved powers and budgets.

The “promise” of further devolution through Devo Max certainly has made the leaders of Councils in England sit up and say, “we want some of this”, and not before time. It’s rare I will do this, but I’m going to praise the Coalition Government for their attitude toward devolving funding through the LEP’s for infrastructure projects. Indeed, my own Ward of Longbridge has benefitted from over £8m for transport projects and to upgrade Longbridge train station.

The problem with this method of devolution is it’s such a long winded process and each application, for each round of funding, has to be approved by Ministers. Add to that the different forms of funding that is available. From the Regional Growth Fund to City Deals to Local Growth Fund interested parties have to constantly submit bids. This needs to change for Cities to become the economic powerhouses they should be. The question is this. Is Westminster/Whitehall serious about further devolution, or is it just the latest fad in politics?

Last Monday I attended a Think Birmingham event in the City Centre where a panel including representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, Lunar Society, Think Cities & the Core Cities put forward their ideas of how further devolution will work and how it can empower Cities to deliver jobs, growth & prosperity. There was unanimous agreement that Cities or City Regions only can create the right environment for business growth and that Government should not be shy when it comes to devolving budgets and powers.

There was agreement that 100% of business rates should be retained to reinvest in business & skills, and that Cities/City Regions should be able to set their own rates and retain 100% of Council Tax. I would argue that Cities/City Regions should be able to retain 50% of income tax receipts and stamp duty until a certain threshold is reached. Also the year to year funding of Councils should be replaced with a 10 year, fully costed and transparent deal with Government.

There are many aspects to devolution. At a Macro level there’s fiscal devolution to Cities/City Regions/LEPs for economic development and also fiscal devolution to deliver services. Personally I’d like to see both and quickly. However, this is not going to happen overnight.

The first stage of the process must be the creation of a Combined Authority including Birmingham, Solihull and The Black Country. Added to this would be the remaining parts of the GBSLEP. This is an integral first step to gaining powers and budgets from Government. Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Leeds City Region have already done this and are in pole position to receive devolved powers.

Earlier this evening the Leader of Sandwell Council, Cllr Darren Cooper, threw down the gauntlet to Sir Albert Bore, giving Birmingham until Christmas to sign up to a Combined Authority or he would look elsewhere. In my opinion, Birmingham would be bloody stupid to turn this offer down as it could leave Britain’s second City lagging a long way behind.

Licensing isn’t political

Today I attended the Licensing Committee meeting to represent local residents against the proposed longer opening hours – until 2am – of the Bugle Horn pub in Frankley.  I was as an elected representative allowed to put my concerns across to the committee along with the Parish Council & local residents.  Although the application was approved, it was done so with a number of conditions.  Not the outcome I was looking for but a  moral victory of sorts.

The conditions of licence are as follows:

1: Opening Hours; Sunday – Thursday 10am – 12.30pm.  Friday & Saturday 10am – 1.30pm

2:  Licensable activities – sale of alcohol & playing of live/rec music – to cease 30 minutes before official closing time.

3:  Amplified levels of music shall not exceed levels agreed with Environmental Health.

4:  Large signage to be erected inside and outside of the Bugle Horn, asking patrons to show due consideration for the local area and its residents.

5:  All litter to be cleared up before the start of each trading day.

6:  Doors and Windows must be closed and qualified security staff to work on the door when all entertainment takes place.

7:  CCTV to be extended to cover a wider area than the entrance.

8:  The licensee also agreed to remove from the application any extended hours on Bank/Public Holidays.

I will be approaching the Dedicated Premises Supervisor in the near future, asking him to set up monthly meetings with residents, similar to one currently in place at the Toby Jug in Rednal, to discuss any issues caused by the Bugle Horn.

Unfortunately the local Tories, including the PPC for Northfield have tried to make political gain from the issue.  They have already circulated a leaflet stating it was the ‘Labour run’ Licensing Committee who have let residents down.  Now yes, Labour does run Birmingham and due to proportionality has more members on the committee, but Licensing is a statutory function of the City Council and is not run on political grounds.

Both the Tory Council candidate and PPC have a lot to learn about the functioning of the City Council.  I have been shown a copy of the Tory leaflet and will be sharing it with the legal team at Birmingham City Council and the Chair of Licensing Cllr Barbara Dring for their comments.  To say that Licensing makes decisions on a political basis – Tories and Lib Dems also sit on sub committees – is nothing short of a disgrace.

Update on backlog of refuse collections

Over the past couple of days I have been contacted by many Longbridge residents regarding the non collection of both black sacks and recyclable refuse.  On Friday I sent an urgent email to the Director of Fleet and Waste asking when the backlog was to be cleared. I received the reply below.

“Dear Councillor Cruise

The inclement weather and deep freeze from Friday 18th January to Friday 25th January resulted in Refuse Collection staff being unable to access and collect from a significant number of properties across Birmingham due to the treacherous roads and unsafe pavement conditions. Despite the best efforts of FWM to maintain the service this interruption resulted in over 200,000 black sacks being uncollected and some 350,000 uncollected recyclates during the above period.

Following improvement in the weather and the road and pavement conditions FWM staff have worked hard to minimise the negative impact of the above while still maintaining the delivery of some 200,000 collections every day as part of business as usual.

Additional resources including evening and weekend overtime, additional agency staff, use of street cleansing staff, additional hired vehicles have all been used to support the catch up. Such resources however are not unlimited especially given the complex and high risk element of the task and the legislative conditions associated with our industry especially in regard to driving hours etc.

The position is varied across the City and the four operational depots are dealing with the backlog in various ways dependant on primarily the demographic, geographical and operational variances of the depots and the wards they service, however in Lifford Lane depot the situation is as follows:

95% of black sacks collected with some outstanding residual in Weoley Castle, Billesley and Longbridge which will be cleared by the weekend with an additional residual crew working on Saturday.
Over 50% of last weeks recyclates collection is outstanding but all of this weeks recycling collections are completed.
15 recycling crews will be working Saturday in Harborne, Quinton, Selly Oak, Longbridge, Weoley Castle and Brandwood.
A review of the requirement to work Sunday will be taken on Saturday evening.
Mondays recyclate collection will be outstanding but collected as part of the scheduled recyclate collection on Monday.

I hope this information is what you need.

Tommy Wallace
Director of Fleet and Waste Management
Birmingham City Council”

I am monitoring the situation today and will be touring the Longbridge Ward this evening to see if the backlog was cleared as promised.

Tory Government is strangling Birmingham City Council

Make no bones about it.  Sir Albert Bore’s comment “it’s the end of local government as we know it”, is a stark reality.  It seems like de ja vous.  A Tory Government (albeit propped up by Lib Dems) is treating the City of Birmingham and it’s citizens with sheer contempt – as happened when the Tories last ran the Country at the same time as Labour were in control Birmingham City Council.  At a meeting of Labour Party members last night, Sir Albert, deputy leader Ian Ward and Jack Dromey MP spelt it out for all to hear.  Birmingham must make savings (cuts!) of £600m+ in the next 4 financial cycles.  This relates to 50% of the budget we as a City are in Control of.

Most of what the Council receives in funding comes from the Government.  Contrary to popular belief, only 9% of council revenue comes from Council Tax.  Government tells Birmingham City Council how to spend 63% of the funding it receives.  We are not allowed to move any of this 63% around.  This leaves 37% of the budget for what is called controllable spend.  Of the controllable spend we still must deliver statutory services such as Children’s Social Care and care for vulnerable adults.

The Tories in Birmingham have accused us of scaremongering.  That is definitely not the case.  The previous Tory/Lib Dem administration in Birmingham made assumptions on the city’s finances that were undeliverable (sounds familiar doesn’t it – Tory/Lib Dems nationally are doing the same).   This has added to the financial pressures on Birmingham.  Unfortunately we have some real difficult decisions to make, but the difference between the Tories and us – we are honest about the challenges we face.

Initiatives like WiSH Project must continue to be funded

On 15th October, members from The Birmingham Economy and Jobs Overview & Scrutiny Committee went on a fact-finding field trip to WiSH Project.  The project is based at The Pump in Shard End and is part of DWP Co-design Pilot.  WiSH is one of five national Co-design projects which have been developed in partnership with DWP.

The format of the event was an informal round table discussion with service users and partners.  The committee heard from service users like Nikita who had issues with drug use and anorexia, from Yvonne who WiSH helped get into business, from Razia who has been helped so much by WiSH, she wants to become a support worker.  We heard the issues and barriers a section of society has when it comes to gaining sustainable employment.  We listened ardently to the brilliant WiSH coaches who’s outreach work and subtle approaches to this section of society allow them a chance to gain employment.

One of the issues raised was around those who have served time in prison, been through a full rehabilitation process to allow them back into society and are ignored by employers.  We were told by coaches no matter how well the ex-offenders had rehabilitated themselves, they were still seen as untrustworthy.  If I take anything away from the session it will be the need to, as part of the sentence/rehabilitation, allow those serving time an opportunity for hands on work experience, to prove they can do the job.

The funding for WiSH project pilot is due to run out in 2013.  With the cuts to grants to Council by Central Government it will become difficult to sustainably fund the project from Council coffers.  We as a Council, in partnership with other agencies must find the funding not only to keep WiSH afloat, but also to roll the pilot across the areas of Birmingham that are most in need.

A radical solution would be to look at DWP funding to Job Centre Plus.  There is a need for the service that JCP gives to users, but there are those in society who need help with the more subtle skills that start them on a journey back into work.  Those who need to be dealt with by one person, having their own caseworker.  In my opinion, the need for more co-design projects and a smaller JCP could have an impact so positive, it will go a long way to alleviating long-term unemployment.

Osborne’s ideology won’t secure growth

Something quite strange happened this week.  The GDP figures were revised up, too much fanfare from economists and Government alike.  The shoulder shrugging “well it’s not as bad as we first thought” would make you think everything is smelling like roses.  The problem lies in the fact we are still in recession.  The economy still contracted by 0.5%.  Finally, those who were in agreement with George Osborne in 2010 are almost all telling him to change course.  Will the Chancellor listen.  I doubt it very much.

Osborne’s failings are down to a severe lack of understanding of basic economics.  Borrowing will not reduce when there is no growth.  July’s Public Sector Net Borrowing figures proved that.  In a month where a surplus is normally returned (in July 2012 there was a £2.8bn surplus), borrowing actually increased by £500m+.  The excuse for this, an extra Bank Holiday.  During his term as Chancellor Osborne as constantly shifted the blame away from himself and his economic policy.  Unfortunately for Gideon, the electorate have woken up to his incompetence.

Prior to recess the Government announced infrastructure projects they claimed would turn around the economy.  Again, spin was in evidence.  The infrastructure projects were already in the pipeline from before the Coalition came to power.  What is seriously needed is a greater expansion of capital infrastructure projects.  The chance to borrow at low rates is there in front of the Chancellor.  The chance to drive growth stares him in the face.  As I have written at the start of this piece, Osborne can’t reduce borrowing while there is no growth.  He must swallow his pride and change course now.