John Clancy has launched his campaign to become the leader of Birmingham City Council by promising to add some “red meat” to Labour party policies.
The Quinton councillor will challenge Sir Albert Bore for leadership of the controlling Labour group on Saturday May 11th, and if he wins will become council leader at the annual meeting later in the month.
Cllr Clancy is proposing a huge boost to council house building and would provide free school meals for all primary school children, funded through a major launch of Birmingham bonds.
He insisted his campaign would be about policies not personalities. This is not anti-Albert, he added,
However, Cllr Clancy stated that his aim was to ensure that “Birmingham feels like a Labour-led city again”.
His team has decided against challenging Ian Ward for the deputy leadership, which means that the campaign will focus entirely on the question of who would make the best council leader for Birmingham.
The three policies issued so far by Cllr Clancy, under the banner “An alternative vision for Birmingham” are:
- A major, accelerated council house building programme funded by city housing bonds.
- Programme of free breakfast and/or free school meals for all primary school pupils funded in part by social impact bonds.
- Major council-led Investment in Small and Medium-sized Businesses across all wards in the city through business investment bonds from a Birmingham municipal bank and a remodelled LEP.
Cllr Clancy said he hoped to build 3,000 houses a year with funding from UK pension funds and other institutional investors. “We can’t just sit back and wait for the Government to give us money, we have to go out there and battle for it. Many pension funds are keen to invest in council housing because they see it as a safe long term bet.”
He added: “We have to seek out these funds – we can’t wait for government, the Tory LEP or private construction. We can’t wait for private sector construction to build, either. We need to do it ourselves, and partner with other social housing providers, too, to accelerate massively our existing plans to build homes.”
Commenting on his school meals initiative, Cllr Clancy said: “One of the most effective ways to attack child poverty and improve educational performance, as well as children’s health, is through ensuring every child in this city is well fed in school.
“Blackpool, Islington and Southwark Councils and the Welsh Government’s Primary School Free Breakfast Initiative have led the way. Birmingham should look to commit to this fully over the next three years.
“We can start with all pupils in the 135 primary schools across the city where the need for this is greatest, and look also at secondary schools later.”
He wants the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP to concentrate more on assisting small and medium sized businesses rather than helping “big retail and big construction” firms.
He added: ““We have to leave big commerce, big retail, big construction and big business to find their own sources of funds. Instead we need to seek out new sources of finance to invest direct, including taking shares, in small, medium-sized and micro-businesses, and remodel the existing Tory LEP to support them.
“We need to become a city of a thousand trades once more – through 100s of new SMEs and sustaining our existing, endangered SMEs. We need to step in where the banks have failed. Not just in hubs and zones, not just in corridors and belts but in every ward in the city.”
Asked what he felt he could offer, Cllr Clancy said: “I have the political will and the vision to get Birmingham going. It’s a bold vision to stimulate the economy.”
The Clancy campaign is expected to make regular policy announcements over the next three weeks.
Sir Albert Bore has been regularly challenged for the Labour leadership since 1999, once by Cllr Clancy in 2010, and has always managed to hold on. However, the amount of work put into policy formation by Cllr Clancy and his backers suggests that this may be a more interesting challenge than usual.
Maybe the way forward is that the Minimum Wage needs to become a Decent Wage at the same rate as the Living Wage (great it is a Bennite approach). That way low paid employees won’t have to claim Benefits which are clearly having to subsidise employer failings in giving people an adequate salary.
Will this Government provide dignity to the working class by changing the Minimum Wage or will it continue to invest in profits of businesses?
Would you, Peter, work for the current Minimum Wage rate?
@Susan The so-called ‘Living Wage’ policy is about taxpayer-funded pay hikes to (mainly unionised) workers, presumably in the hope that this will push up wages in the wider employment base. This is a Bennite approach that will serve only to increase division between workers and push up Council Tax. It would be far better to try to keep Council Tax as low as possible – that way, everyone benefits, in particular the lowest paid workers.
@Gerry As always, you make some well reasoned points.
@Arthur When I was on the Council, I was the *only* Councillor to object formally to the declaration that the Martineau Centre was surplus to requirements – the decision that started the ball rolling on its proposed redevelopment. Not even Labour’s Quinton Councillor objected. The process was started by the previous administration but is being carried on eagerly by the current one.
@Fred Just because some (not all) bankers haven’t been that good at running banks, it doesn’t follow that a local authority would be any better. BCC has enough to do without starting a foray into high finance. I’ve already provided my reservations on the school meals thing. If you want to trace the financial scandal back to anyone, I’d suggest Gordon Brown (who set up the totally ineffectual FSA) and Bill Clinton (who repealed the Glass-Steagall Act). As for a plan, the plan is to reduce the deficit by reigning in the totally unsustainable level of public spending we’ve seen since 2003. As for building council housing, the previous administration has a much better record on that that any administration for years.
The fact that the Living Wage is paid in Birmingham is testimony to the Labour Policy values that are being delivered; the credit for this is down to the current Leadership.
I have not read anywhere that Councillor Clancy has attacked labour policy or any labour councillor.
His challenge is no doubt based on his belief that he can deliver on a greater amount of labour vision, policy and implementation.
The nature of politicians is that they often want to get to the position that enables them to achieve the most.
Alderman T. Stewart was replaced by Sir Albert, when he had his chance.
Politics, so I am informed is about power.
I am of the opinion that Councillor Clancey, though a very capable person, with all the intellectual abilities and political experience he has could very effectively run the city council, he will not get the support of his fellow Labour councillors to a requisite number to take the leadership.
THE IMPORTANT THING THAT HIS CANDIDATURE HIGHLIGHTS, IS THE NEED TO MAKE LABOUR, LABOUR AGAIN ON THIS COUNCIL.
The ordinary Labour member and voter may not recognise that the present leadership is following Labour policy.
Was the introduction of the mini poll tax, by Labour’s leadership, meaning that those on Jobseeker’s Allowance now have to pay council tax contributions, A LABOUR POLICY OBJECTIVE.
In the coming years a challenge to the leadership will become more credible and if I were a betting man I would say that Cllr. Ian Ward will be a determinant of who will be the future leader.
You certainly have a cheek, Mr Smallbone! It was your Tory chums in cahoots with the Liberals who earmarked the Martineau for closure after shifting council workers into a hugely expensive new building in the city centre. Flog that building off, I say, and bring council workers back to Martineau! Given Cllr Clancy’s ideas on asset sales, I bet you that’s exactly what he’d propose. And like Mr Andrews asked, what exactly is your plan, Mr Small bone?
Not really a cheek more long standing consistency. as my (former) Councillor Peter did more to protect the Martineau Centre from redevelopment than anyone else. As numerous stories highlight.
. @ChamberlainFile: Clancy launches ‘red meat’ challenge to Bore < not sure ‘red meat’ most trustworthy campaign tack
Interestingly, Mr Smallbone seems to have missed the financial crisis and credit crunch. Were you in the bath at the time Peter? Most banks aren’t actually very good at running banks themselves and WE have had to bail them out to the tune of £1.4tn (that’s Trillion if you can’t count that high). The DNA of that financial meltdown goes right back to Thatcher’s Big Bang and deregulation. The lesson is clear: we need a variety of different lenders in the market: big PLCs (we have them now, subsidised by us), mutuals, and the state, all competing and with different risk profiles to lending so as to give the financial system greater resilience AND get funding to small firms. I think it’s a great idea to set up a Municipal Bank seeing how utterly useless funding for lending and all the other bag-of-a-fag-packet financial wheezes Osborne has dreamt up of in increasing desperation. NONE of them have boosted lending to SMEs… Funding for Lending in particular is simply about boosting mortgage lending. Another house price boom here we come, without any social housing actually being built… which is why Cllr Clancy’s house building idea is also so good.
As for free school meals, are you saying you don’t back this Mr Smallbone? Do you?
Social investment bonds? Bring em on!
What’s your big plan Mr Smallbone? Have you got one? Your government clearly doesn’t, so if you have any at all do send them on a postcard to your mates Dave and George – they’d welcome your ideas I’m sure.
Peter has raised some very interesting questions and if Cllr Clancy had any sincerity to his proposals he would have the courage to answer the questions.
He’d fall at the first hurdle though … He has not the backbone to build Council Housing on Martineau Site!
One suspects that the red meat promised here is actually horsemeat:
Clancy launches ‘red meat’ challenge to Bore in Brum city council leadership campaign
Perhaps you could ask the following questions to Cllr Clancy:
Does Cllr Clancy intend to build any of these houses on the site of the Martineau Centre in his own ward?
Why won’t providing free school meals for every primary schoolchild be subsiding many parents (some very wealthy) who can easily afford to pay for such meals themselves? Will such a policy also cover non-LEA schools, schoolchildren coming in from outside the city, and city schoolchildren in schools outside the city? What is the estimated cost of such a policy?
Who would be expected to buy these various types of bonds, and has anyone expressed an interest yet?
How much money would such bond sales be expected to raise?
Is it really the place of a local authority to run a bank?
Bore will be challenged for Brum Labour Group leadership on 11 May. Full story:
Clancy launches leadership Brum city council leadership campaign @ChamberlainFile