Liberal Democrat

We may get a black Pope: will we ever get a black Tory councillor?

The inside track on Birmingham City Council - Paul Dale's Diary

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Published February 12, 2013, in Mr Dale's Diary


councilhouseIt is probably a coincidence that Mike Whitby announced his intention to remain leader of the dwindling band of Birmingham Tory councillors just a few hours after the Pope said he would be abdicating.

Such are the affairs of great men, though, that the timing of these proclamations invariably raises more questions than answers.

Whitby, rattled by criticism of his extremely low profile since losing the council leadership last May, says he is renewed and eager to carry the fight to Labour. A perfect opportunity to do so will be at the annual budget meeting later this month where, for the first time in eight years the Conservative group will put forward its own spending proposals.

Any prospect of a joint Tory-Lib Dem budget in the spirit of the two parties’ coalition was dismissed somewhat abruptly by Liberal Democrat leader Paul Tilsley: “It will be my intention to present a

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Labour says: trust the people (even Tories and Lib Dems)

Birmingham devolution plans will put opposition councillors in city council cabinet

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Published May 22, 2012, in Politics


Sutton Coldfield Town Hall

Devolving powers and budgets from the centralised Council House to locally-based constituency committees has, on paper, been a key Birmingham City Council policy since 2005.

But the push towards localisation put in place by Sir Albert Bore before Labour lost control to a Tory-Lib Dem coalition in 2004 struggled to achieve its aims, caught up in a clash of opposing interests between the council’s executive cabinet and backbench councillors from all political parties on the committees.

Too often, the constituency committees discovered that important budgetary decisions were taken by the cabinet and that, in any case, city-wide service contracts severely limited the scope for change when it came to services like refuse collection and street cleaning.

The initiative also exposed internal differences in the coalition, where

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Birmingham Tories ‘odds-on’ to re-elect Mike Whitby as leader

No-one wants job enough to mount a credible challenge, claims top Conservative

By:
Published May 9, 2012, in Politics


Mike Whitby

The cockerel in the Council House courtyard didn’t crow three times, but Mike Whitby’s claim that the Conservatives haven’t been in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats for the past eight years was still a denial on an almost breath-taking scale.

Whitby, the Tory leader of Birmingham City Council until May 22 when Labour’s Sir Albert Bore takes over, was being goaded with the C-word when he finally snapped: “We were never in a coalition.”

He was of course attempting to distinguish between a formal coalition and his preferred form of words for the council’s current arrangements, a partnership between Tories and Liberal Democrats. Or, as Coun Whitby insists on calling it: the Progressive Partnership.

The sharp exchange at the Council Business Management Committee did however raise two important issues: namely,

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Labour on course for decisive victory in Birmingham

Council expert says Tory-Lib Dem coalition could lose up to 21 seats, with 'big names' at risk

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Published May 2, 2012, in Politics


The Labour Party is on course to trounce the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in tomorrow’s Birmingham City Council elections, according to a local authority expert.

The city council’s head of policy, Tony Smith, is forecasting that Labour will easily make the five gains it needs to oust the coalition, and could end up with almost two-thirds of seats in the council chamber in what would be the party’s best performance for 15 years.

Mr Smith, a widely respected elections expert, traditionally publishes eve-of-poll predictions for the media based on recent voting trends.

This time Mr Smith says Labour will gain

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Birmingham’s best opportunity for greatness in 100 years

Only a powerful elected mayor with a direct mandate can arrest Brum's sad decline, says Paul Dale

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Published May 2, 2012, in Opinion


When Birmingham was great

Here is a question for everyone who for one reason or another intends to vote against an elected mayor for Birmingham, or simply refuses to take part in the referendum: “When did local government last matter in this country?”

By that I mean when did town hall politics really matter?

When did national governments feel obliged to take any notice of the views of the people of, say, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Liverpool and Coventry about an issue of importance to people living in these great cities?

When did becoming a councillor amount to something in society? Were council meetings ever well attended? When did the turnout at council elections regularly exceed 40 per cent?

You probably have to go back to the 1950s to uncover such halcyon days – an era, incidentally, when major political parties recruited MPs through local business leaders and councillors, rather than relying on today’s career politicians who

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