The state Birmingham is in right now is reminiscent of the 1979 Winter of Discontent, with bags of rubbish not being collected for weeks due to strikes from trade union Unite. It is absolutely disgusting that instead of engaging in constructive dialogue with the City Council, they have taken it upon themselves to disrupt people's weekly bin collections and inflict misery upon the city. What is worse is that the Labour group that controls the authority has established a record of misspending people's money on unnecessary and neglected speed limits to fancy new cars for the executive board that would be out of reach for many taxpayers.
Considering it was students that helped increase Labour's number of seats in Westminster this year, those studying in Birmingham universities should realise this is one of many consequences when far-left socialist groups manage local councils. All of them would have been too young to remember the Winter of Discontent; today's strikes are only a taste of what it was like then.
Birmingham is one of the many cities the Conservatives need to improve their representation in. After West Midlands Mayor Andy Street was elected in this part of the world, the Tories were expected to win more seats in this city during this year's general election. But due to Jeremy Corbyn, they failed to retake Edgbaston, which was won by Labour in 1997, and Northfield.
These were disappointing results considering there was an expectation Theresa May would win with a landslide.
This city deserves better leadership
This city deserves better leadership, and only the Conservatives have a record of doing that. Mr. Street has recently established a new Funding Commission designed provide long-term funding for areas like housing, reclaim polluted brownfield land and improve the transport network.
He has done this by bringing in local government figures, business leaders and academics to help steer the region away from dependency on government grants. If they can do this at a regional level, imagine what the Tories can do for Birmingham at a more local level.
Punish Labour for their gross incompetence
Considering Unite provide substantial funding to Labour, the current City Council is not powerful enough to confront their own trade union on this issue.
And as a result of the union's selfishness, the whole city has suffered. Birmingham deserves better and it requires leaders who do not have links to union bosses.
Fresh elections are being held in the city next year. This should be an opportunity for voters to punish Labour for their gross incompetence.
