Lichfield Dean Posted March 4, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted March 4, 2017 It is time for the race for the first West Midlands mayor to begin. The campaigns are ramping up and the various candidates have hit twitter with everything they have. For those unaware, the candidates are: Green: James Burn UKIP: Pete Durnell Liberal Democrat: Beverley Nielsen Labour: Siôn Simon Communist: Graham Stevenson Conservative: Andy Street Will they improve the fortunes of the region? Will they be utterly ineffective? Will they act as a voice for the West Midlands or just toe the party line? Will they get on with Dr Tony and his grand plans for Birmingham? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Carl Chinn or GTFO Seriously though, how much power will they have? Need to have a read up on it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Did anyone ask for an elected Mayor and if not, who decided we needed one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 15 minutes ago, Awol said: Did anyone ask for an elected Mayor and if not, who decided we needed one? Wasn't it George Osborne with his northern power houses bollocks and the fact if we didn't have a Mayor we wouldn't have access to certain funding? The region didn't choose to have an elected Mayor, in fact in a referendum in 2012 Birmingham voted no to an elected Mayor. This has been forced on us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 How they work with brum council will make or break it, brum council have seemed awful for a long time now, either pissing money up the wall or not really doing much of anything, the area needs a cheerleader as much as anything else, the timing could be right with the big city plan and everything else going on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Since I seem to be full of unpopular opinions today, allow me to launch another one: It is absolutely ridiculous that people in cities like Birmingham moan, at every opportunity, about how London sucks in all the inward investment, the young people, all the air in the room, and then vote against devolution every single time it's put to us. Devolution is the only way to de-centralise this country to even the smallest extent. Frankly it should have been imposed without a referendum in the first place. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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