Edgbaston MP wants to be Labour’s candidate for the post of elected mayor of Birmingham. In a guest post for the Chamberlain News, she urges Brummies to vote in favour of the change to the way the city is governed in next May’s referendum.
The story of Birmingham is a powerful one. Once famed as the centre of the industrialised world, its factories and workshops provided work for generations of Brummies, turning out goods that were traded and celebrated across the globe.
The city’s economic vitality was mirrored by an equally dynamic civic leadership, forever synonymous with the image and exploits of . Under “Radical Joe” and his successors, the city’s street map was dramatically altered through what would now be described as urban regeneration. New schools, libraries and bath houses were built to benefit the people. Utilities like gas and water came under municipal control, followed later by a municipal bank to hold the people’s savings. Not without reason was Birmingham proclaimed to be “the best governed city in the world”.
It is a story that remains a source of pride and inspiration to this day. The problem is that for present day
