annie

Bhangra celebrations by British Pakistanis in Birmingham after the Independents beat Labour over local issues and the Gaza war. There were 13 independents elected for the council in Birmingham. The Independent Alliance backed by the lawyer Akhmed Yakoob and Afsar Shakeel has caused huge damage to the decade old Labour hold in the city in the Pakistani community areas. Bad news for the Labour and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood - the Baradriism and clan card is over, community leaders’ control over the British Pakistani community is broken.

I can’t pretend that the results across the West Midlands don’t hurt. Good councillors - many of them friends - have lost their seats. This region has taken an economic battering for generations. Jobs that were here haven’t come back. High streets that were thriving aren’t what they were. Our public services have been hollowed out. People feel that every day, and they’re rightly frustrated. The ballot box is how people send a message. And I don’t think that message has changed since I was elected - ‘make life better, and do it quickly’. That’s a fair ask. And that message being sent louder means we have to go faster and make sure more people feel the difference we’re making. So there is soul searching to do. It’s a time to reflect, respond and refocus. I will be doing that too. But my promise to the West Midlands stays the same. I won’t stop fighting for the people of this region. I want people to have hope about the future and hope for the place where they live. And that will continue to be my focus everyday.

Scattergun voting in Birmingham. Voters deeply opposed to each other living shoulder-to-shoulder. I hope sense prevails and everyone can coexist peacefully. But that map is giving pressure cooker vibes.

Great Hampton st should be elite

🚆🌿 El Tren de Gran Canaria avanza para ser realidad. Hoy hemos obtenido la declaración de impacto ambiental favorable. Un paso clave para seguir adelante y hacerlo para respetar el paisaje de nuestra isla, con medidas que se supervisarán durante toda la obra.

I do think, though, that subsidising huge businesses like Tesco or Amazon or whatever paying poverty wages by topping them up with benefits is a model we should be working to move away from. No one in work should need state support. Make the bosses pay.