Birmingham News

Birmingham Springfield is a council ward whose boundaries have recently been rejigged. Two of the sitting councillors are Lib Dems, but in May 2006 Councillor Fazal of Labour was elected. Via a Muslim friend from the ward (who did not vote for him) I understand that Councillor Fazal's command of English is pretty poor. The Lib Dems have started campaigning for May 2007 and they reveal in their latest leaflet that the Springfield Labour Party has selected Councillor Fazal's cousin as its candidate, also pointing out that the candidate used to represent Sparkhill (an area now represented by Respect) and had a reputation for doing very little casework.

Allegations of laziness and nepotism are real negative campaigning points from the Dems, but I think it will probably work. The Tories came a poor fourth in this ward in May.

In other Birmingham news, we await to learn why an application for £30m of central government funds has been rejected. The funds were to be directed towards the poorest communities in Birmingham setting up enterprise hubs where entrepeneurs could receive advice and guidance on business ventures. A spokesman from the government body (LEGI) said the Birmingham bid team would be told why the bid failed. Heat maps again?