|
|
Post by John Chanin on Jan 22, 2022 13:50:12 GMT
What are your criteria (or, indeed, criterion) for mergers? Don't There is a case for mergers of tiny District Councils which can’t afford to run decent services, or recruit decent staff, even if they may be genuinely local and valued as such by residents. Indeed most of them have now gone. Such mergers would have been preferable in North Yorkshire to the ridiculous unitary the poor residents are getting, and I feel the same about Durham and Cornwall. Leicestershire is now the biggest offender and needs a shake up. |
|
neilm
Non-Aligned
Posts: 25,023
|
Post by neilm on Jan 23, 2022 14:44:13 GMT
When I was a parish councillor, my colleagues often argued in favour of 'improved three tier' which sometimes meant district mergers, and sometimes meant whatever they want it to mean. At the time, Exeter was about to become a unitary and we faced the prospect of an unwieldy Devon-wide unitary. There is a case for merger but I'm not sure if unitaries are the answer, at least not with our local government finance structure/approach/law. Bigger districts inside counties with beefier parish councils is my preferred solution, which is what should have happened in Cornwall, Dorset, Bucks and North Yorks and what should be happening in Leicestershire and Lancashire. Any wholesale restructuring needs to be run in tandem with a new approach to finance.
Any restructure could, of course, include elected school boards.
|
|
|
|
Post by andrew111 on Jan 23, 2022 19:07:50 GMT
I’d love us to be competitive in more urban seats, but this isn’t the time, it’s also not the place. Politics is cyclical, give Kier/Labour 4-6 years and we’ll start to be competitive again. This is not a by-election prospect like NS or C&A. The Lib Dems (in parliament, and to a lesser extent, locally) are too middle class for seats like this - and that's why they've been ramping up the pressure on the Tories in the Blue Wall. We would need another Labour government (in hot water, like in 2003-10) before they can mountain a challenge in urban centres again e.g. Manchester Withington, Birmingham. Yardley etc. And then they would face the challenge common to the : crafting a manifesto that would appeal to the upper middle classes Richmond/Kingston and working class voters in the city/large town centres (outside London). The Labour Party are pretty middle class too these days, and are going to have trouble crafting a manifesto that will appeal in both Leigh and Canterbury. The Labour social media army does tend to just deny what is in the manifesto in places where it does not suit however |
|
neilm
Non-Aligned
Posts: 25,023
|
Post by neilm on Jan 23, 2022 19:40:34 GMT
The Labour social media army does tend to just deny what is in the manifesto in places where it does not suit however Fancy being in a party that denies or obfuscates part of its manifesto in such a fashion. |
|
|
|
Post by andrew111 on Jan 23, 2022 20:53:45 GMT
The Labour social media army does tend to just deny what is in the manifesto in places where it does not suit however Fancy being in a party that denies or obfuscates part of its manifesto in such a fashion. Well, if you are talking about the Lib Dems, mostly everyone ignores the manifesto unless they want to invent stuff or misquote it out of context. Twas ever thus |
|
|
|
Post by greenhert on Jan 23, 2022 21:26:02 GMT
When I was a parish councillor, my colleagues often argued in favour of 'improved three tier' which sometimes meant district mergers, and sometimes meant whatever they want it to mean. At the time, Exeter was about to become a unitary and we faced the prospect of an unwieldy Devon-wide unitary. There is a case for merger but I'm not sure if unitaries are the answer, at least not with our local government finance structure/approach/law. Bigger districts inside counties with beefier parish councils is my preferred solution, which is what should have happened in Cornwall, Dorset, Bucks and North Yorks and what should be happening in Leicestershire and Lancashire. Any wholesale restructuring needs to be run in tandem with a new approach to finance. Any restructure could, of course, include elected school boards. During the first round of the creation of "county unitaries" Lancashire was indeed the subject of possible district mergers, but in each case there was one authority who rejected the proposed merger in question. |
|
|
|
Post by woollyliberal on Jan 23, 2022 21:38:48 GMT
Birmingham Councillor Paulette Hamilton has announced that she's been shortlisted to replace Jack Dromey.
|
|
andrewp
Non-Aligned
Posts: 9,580 
Member is Online
|
Post by andrewp on Jan 23, 2022 21:49:42 GMT
Birmingham Councillor Paulette Hamilton has announced that she's been shortlisted to replace Jack Dromey. Is that her home constituency? Her ward is split between Perry Barr and Ladywood. |
|
|
|
Post by No Offence Alan on Jan 23, 2022 21:59:36 GMT
The Tories will probably field a candidate from Shropshire.
|
|
|
|
Post by iainbhx on Jan 23, 2022 22:04:03 GMT
Birmingham Councillor Paulette Hamilton has announced that she's been shortlisted to replace Jack Dromey. Is that her home constituency? Her ward is split between Perry Barr and Ladywood. Yes, I can confirm that Paulette lives in Erdington. |
|
|
|
Post by iainbhx on Jan 23, 2022 22:06:32 GMT
The Tories will probably field a candidate from Shropshire. I've not had it confirmed but I think they are running four-time loser Bobby Alden. I did note however Mr Shastri-Hurst tweeting about the start of the Tory campaign* yesterday. * All described as the local election campaign of course, but you don't drag people over from Halesowen and Dudley for that. |
|
|
|
Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Jan 23, 2022 22:14:48 GMT
Ashley Bertie has also been shortlisted for Labour:
|
|
andrewp
Non-Aligned
Posts: 9,580
Member is Online
|
Post by andrewp on Jan 23, 2022 22:16:26 GMT
The Tories will probably field a candidate from Shropshire. I've not had it confirmed but I think they are running four-time loser Bobby Alden. I did note however Mr Shastri-Hurst tweeting about the start of the Tory campaign* yesterday. * All described as the local election campaign of course, but you don't drag people over from Halesowen and Dudley for that. Is Robert Alden the type who will go searching for a safe Parliamentary seat at some point, or is he only interested in standing for his own area? 5 times in a seat that is only winnable if everything goes absolutely right, is a lot. As has been discussed before, I would have thought he was ‘senior’ to Gary Sambrook in Birmingham circles but Sambrook got the more winnable seat in 2019. Or is he waiting for Sutton Coldfield ( probably like every other Conservative for miles around!) |
|
|
|
Post by iainbhx on Jan 23, 2022 22:22:13 GMT
I've not had it confirmed but I think they are running four-time loser Bobby Alden. I did note however Mr Shastri-Hurst tweeting about the start of the Tory campaign* yesterday. * All described as the local election campaign of course, but you don't drag people over from Halesowen and Dudley for that. Is Robert Alden the type who will go searching for a safe Parliamentary seat at some point, or is he only interested in standing for his own area? 5 times in a seat that is only winnable if everything goes absolutely right, is a lot. As has been discussed before, I would have thought he was ‘senior’ to Gary Sambrook in Birmingham circles but Sambrook got the more winnable seat in 2019. Or is he waiting for Sutton Coldfield ( probably like every other Conservative for miles around!) I wouldn't like to stay, whilst we served together, he wasn't one of the Tories I spoke to much. I'd take a guess he's fairly committed to Erdington. The number of applicants for Royal Slutton Coldfield will be legendary. |
|
|
|
Post by finsobruce on Jan 23, 2022 22:26:28 GMT
I've not had it confirmed but I think they are running four-time loser Bobby Alden. I did note however Mr Shastri-Hurst tweeting about the start of the Tory campaign* yesterday. * All described as the local election campaign of course, but you don't drag people over from Halesowen and Dudley for that. Is Robert Alden the type who will go searching for a safe Parliamentary seat at some point, or is he only interested in standing for his own area? 5 times in a seat that is only winnable if everything goes absolutely right, is a lot. As has been discussed before, I would have thought he was ‘senior’ to Gary Sambrook in Birmingham circles but Sambrook got the more winnable seat in 2019. Or is he waiting for Sutton Coldfield ( probably like every other Conservative for miles around!) And coincidentally Robert Pocock stood for Labour five times in Sutton Coldfield (2001-2017) |
|
andrewp
Non-Aligned
Posts: 9,580
Member is Online
|
Post by andrewp on Jan 23, 2022 22:29:57 GMT
Is Robert Alden the type who will go searching for a safe Parliamentary seat at some point, or is he only interested in standing for his own area? 5 times in a seat that is only winnable if everything goes absolutely right, is a lot. As has been discussed before, I would have thought he was ‘senior’ to Gary Sambrook in Birmingham circles but Sambrook got the more winnable seat in 2019. Or is he waiting for Sutton Coldfield ( probably like every other Conservative for miles around!) And coincidentally Robert Pocock stood for Labour five times in Sutton Coldfield (2001-2017) I don’t know why, but I always assumed that he had no aspirations to be an MP. |
|
|
|
Post by finsobruce on Jan 23, 2022 22:55:52 GMT
And coincidentally Robert Pocock stood for Labour five times in Sutton Coldfield (2001-2017) I don’t know why, but I always assumed that he had no aspirations to be an MP. He stood for selection for the 2019 election as well but lost out. "He refused to be drawn on rumours that he had been victim to a national cull of Labour moderates".
|
|
andrewp
Non-Aligned
Posts: 9,580
Member is Online
|
Post by andrewp on Jan 23, 2022 23:14:37 GMT
I don’t know why, but I always assumed that he had no aspirations to be an MP. He stood for selection for the 2019 election as well but lost out. "He refused to be drawn on rumours that he had been victim to a national cull of Labour moderates".
That Probably contributed to Labour falling back a bit more than average in Sutton. I wonder if he has applied for any of the Birmingham vacancies over the last 20 years |
|
|
|
Post by greenhert on Jan 23, 2022 23:28:49 GMT
Is Robert Alden the type who will go searching for a safe Parliamentary seat at some point, or is he only interested in standing for his own area? 5 times in a seat that is only winnable if everything goes absolutely right, is a lot. As has been discussed before, I would have thought he was ‘senior’ to Gary Sambrook in Birmingham circles but Sambrook got the more winnable seat in 2019. Or is he waiting for Sutton Coldfield ( probably like every other Conservative for miles around!) I wouldn't like to stay, whilst we served together, he wasn't one of the Tories I spoke to much. I'd take a guess he's fairly committed to Erdington.
The number of applicants for Royal Slutton Coldfield will be legendary.If Andrew Mitchell retires at the next election, anyway. Given his age and length of parliamentary service (almost 31 years and counting) that is a strong possibility. |
|
|
|
Post by minionofmidas on Jan 23, 2022 23:31:29 GMT
The Tories will probably field a candidate from Shropshire. Who won't be able to tell Birmingham from Coventry. |
|
