Seeing red
Animosity in Birmingham and recriminations in Dudley: we soak up the drama on election night
Dear Patchers — the plastic cups of beer have been cleared away, the candidates have gone home to sleep, and Britain has experienced something we should all treasure — a peaceful transition of power.
But here in the West Midlands, the last 24 hours have been anything but peaceful. Some of the seats here, like Cannock Chase and Tamworth, saw massive swings. Reform UK didn’t take any seats here — but they took an awful lot of votes. And the big story of Birmingham’s election was the rise of the Independents. We sent reporters along to the key counts, and found soul searching among Labour supporters, serious antagonism as some of the results were announced, and the next pitched battle in the Tory/Reform war for the soul of Dudley (spoiler: neither managed it). As well as that, we revisited Birmingham’s safest Tory seat, Sutton Coldfield, to see if Andrew “Thrasher” Mitchell could hold out against the Labour tide.
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Brum in Brief
🎶Musical opportunity for city youth: A new programme aimed at giving students the chance to get a taste of life in the music bizz has launched in partnership with the team behind Mostly Jazz, Funk and Soul and Moseley Folk & Arts Festival. The Moonshine Collective Industry Programme will give students from Birmingham City University, BIMM University, Screen and Film School Birmingham, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire the chance to take on artist liaison, performance, photography, stage management, and videography roles at the Mosely-based festivals after an intense application and onboarding process. John Fell, Moonshine Collective festival manager and booker, said: “We wanted to create a new way for university and college students to secure real-world experience in a festival.”
🐻Birmingham Bear hunt: 10 brightly-painted bears can be found across Birmingham city centre, each with a QR code that allows visitors to send a message of support to Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The bears have been inspired by Michael Rosen’s 1989 book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and have been sponsored by Central BID. Children are being encouraged to spot all the city centre bears from the Bullring to the Mailbox. A glimpse at what’s on offer (and how to get through it).
🎨New future for IKEA: For both Warwickshire and Brummie residents, Coventry’s IKEA was much beloved, with the flatpack furniture of your dreams (and that household makeover) easy to get to thanks to its city centre location. It closed in 2020 — the Swedish business say this was due to consistent losses — and has been managed by the council but now ISG has been appointed to turn the centre into a £44m cultural hub, which will act as a new home for national collections managed by Arts Council England, Arts Council Collection and the British Council. There will also be a cafe, library, student gallery and filming facilities. Full plans.
🏗️Birmingham development news: Not to be outdone by the city down the road, a new re-development on Birmingham is also on the cards. The 1960s-built Centre City building will undergo a £4.5million refurbishment, including a living wall and fitness facilities. The 20-storey building will offer co-working and pay-as-you-go desk space alongside existing leased offices. There will also be a new cafe, social areas and a storage area for bikes. It’s slated to be completely by January 2025. Full story.
🎫Godiva Festival: This weekend Godiva Festival celebrates 25 years in the War Memorial Park in Coventry. Headliners include Richard Ashcroft, Paloma Faith, Beverly Knight, local legend Lady Leshur as well as lots of up-and-coming talent. The weather is changeable but it might make a nice break from the world of politics that has dominated news this week. Programme here.
🎭Hamilton at The Hippodrome: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s multi award-winning cultural phenomenon Hamilton comes to Birmingham for a ten week stint until the end of August. The story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, the sotry is told through a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B and Broadway. Tickets start at £28.
A febrile atmosphere at the Birmingham count
By Joshua Neicho
The Dispatch’s election night adventure starts with a half at Erdington Conservative Club, where a handful of regulars are watching Andy Murray’s defeat in the Wimbledon doubles. Start as you mean to go on. “Are you our new MP?” a man at the bar jokes. Long-time member John Davis rues the Tory Party's tendency to implode and its “ineffectual” recent state.
Then it is off to catch the exit poll at Jewellery Quarter bar & kitchen 1000 Trades – a focus for Labour campaign disappointments in 2019 when it was a popular haunt for party activists, says co-founder Jonathan Todd. The venue is crammed with all eyes fixed on a big projector screen that starts working just in time. There’s a moment of quiet when the poll comes out, as it sinks in, then some cheers; but the response is louder later when the Tory MPs likely to lose their seats are named and shamed.
The drinkers at 1000 Trades, several of whom turn out to be Dispatch readers, discuss the likelihood Starmer will make a succession plan before the end of his second term, and wonder how likely we are to see Proportional Representation introduced. But many fear Farage and his Reform colleagues gaining a presence in the House of Commons.
Brian from Birmingham Leaseholder Action Group BRUMLAG, not normally a Labour voter, is impressed by how engaged and effective he has found Shabana Mahmood as a local constituency MP. Martha thinks Starmer’s greatest asset is that there promises to be “no more fannying around with him, we will have some stability. He’s not a clickbait character” (he could raise taxes and she wouldn’t mind, she says). Former councillor Adam wants “planning reform: build more houses, nothing works in this country”. Annie “isn’t happy with any of them really” but says she has Labour in her blood so won’t vote for anyone else.
I head over to Birmingham’s election count at the ICC, where early signs are that challenges to Labour from pro-Palestinian Independents are stiffer than expected. Lozells councillor Waseem Zaffar warns that a “few constituencies are quite tight… It’s a bit patchy, we don’t know what’s going to happen”. A string of Independents pay visits to the press gallery including a bullish Akhmed Yakoob, standing in Ladywood, fired up by news of Jonathan Ashworth losing his Leicester South seat to a pro-Gaza independent.
As the night wears on without a declaration, intelligence from both Independents and Labour suggest Ladywood, Hodge Hill and Solihull North, and Yardley are all within toss-up territory. A crowd of candidates in rosettes, aides and officials gathered around one end of the row of tables for Ladywood have their heads bent in scrutiny, but from Yakoob's increasingly dour demeanour it seems he hasn’t won.
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