The Birmingham Northfield Labour Candidates show a lurch to the left in Birmingham Labour
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The Birmingham Northfield Labour Candidates show a lurch to the left in Birmingham Labour
Socialism on its way for Northfield?
Other than Sutton Coldfield Birmingham parliamentary politics has been almost exclusively Labour since Tony Blair’s landslide win in 1997. Since the Conservatives came back from electoral abyss and after winning Birmingham City Council between 2004 and 2012 they were not able to get a foothold in Birmingham until Boris Johnsons landslide in 2019. Then came Gary Sambrook, a local councillor who won the seat for the first time since 1992 when Roger King lost it.
Now Birmingham Northfield is a key target for Labour and many Labour politicians are hoping to make their name and become an MP by unseating Gary Sambrook.
Currently there are four people who have announced their candidacy to be the parliamentary candidate Lucy Caldicott, Tom McNeil, Brigid Jones, and Alex Aitken. Other then Caldicott all are big names in Birmingham politics however looking at social media and past opinions they all show a lurch to the left for the people of Northfield.
Alex Aitken is a Kings Norton Councillor who first won election in 2018. He worked for the previous member of parliament Richard Burden. Aitken announced his nomination early pitching himself as a local candidate. He has won the endorsement of former MP Richard Burden, his former employer, which may seem like a strong endorsement, but many Northfield residents remember when Burden was their MP and how little he responded to emails and Alex Aitken was a part of his team.
Alex Aitken is to the left of most average people; he is very pro-union action and was pro second referendum before the 2019 election which is juxtaposed to most Northfield constituents who overwhelmingly voted for Brexit. There doesn’t seem to be a strike that Alex Aitken hasn’t supported, and he is very pro-union which is seen by him receiving endorsements from Unison. Aitken even criticised his own council for its handling over the bin strikes. What Aitken becoming an MP will mean is someone who will be owned by the Unions. Labour politicians like Aitken want to give in to Union demands meaning the country could be a hostage to hostile Union action like it was in the 1970’s. Aitken’s support for a second referendum before the 2019 election will make Brexit voters in Northfield worried about his commitment to Brexit.
Lucy Caldicott appeals to the ‘woke’ left of Labour. She uses her identity as part of the LGBT community to appeal to the identity politics of Labour members. The first thing she announces in her campaign video isn’t anything she believes in but that she is a lesbian. I fully support LGBT rights, but someone’s identity makes no difference in their job performance. She was a councillor in a Labour safe seat in Lambeth and a failed parliamentary candidate in Dudley South.
Brigid Jones is the councillor for Selly Park and Bournbrook and deputy leader of the Labour group on Birmingham City Council. She is responsible for the disorganisation and incompetence from Birmingham City Council such as not looking after council houses properly, building a £500 million pound athletes village for the commonwealth games which wasn’t finished in time, or presiding over Birmingham getting dirtier and dirtier with fly-tipping out of control
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What makes her a lurch to the left is her support for Jeremy Corbyn. She voted for Corbyn in the 2015 leadership election meaning she is sympathetic to socialism and Marxist politics. If her left wing ideas didn’t work for Birmingham City Council why will it work for Birmingham? Socialism in practice has resulted in the complete deterioration and decline of nations like Venezuela, Soviet Russia, East Germany, and Cuba. Brigid Jones would be a far left addition to parliament in the same vein as MP’s like Zarah Sultana and Emily Thornberry.
Tom McNeil is the deputy of the Police and Crime Commissioners office. McNeil has put his own political correctness and ‘woke’ politics into the police as seen in an earlier Counter Cut article here. Many have said that the recent police evolution to progressive politics and pandering have made the ‘soft’ on crimes people care about. McNeil represents a PCC’s office that isn’t tough on crime and prioritises liberal policy over clamping down on criminals.
So, Labour Northfields choices are someone who loves industrial disputes, someone who has no policy ideas, a socialist, and someone who is incredibly soft on crime when they run the police. This represents a huge lurch to the left that many in Northfield are unaware off.
By Jack Dixon
The Birmingham Northfield Labour Candidates show a lurch to the left in Birmingham Labour
I can't believe that people would vote this way its impossible to understand given how well the conservative party have ruled for the last 12 years it keeps getting better and better