Wake Up Call!

I think it is important that everyone recognises that the rise of the far right in the West Midlands is because people feel threatened and that the established political parties appear not to be taking note of the concerns of the ordinary people that make up our communities.

There is more responsibility on elected member's shoulders now, than there has been for the last 30 years.

The Town and City Halls of the West Midlands must wake up to this fact, as must my own Government. The issues of asylum seekers and the way we provide for people is crucial to the views of our communities, it is no use putting our head in the sand and thinking that these issues are going to go away, they will not.

We have to argue and provide the services that people want, not what we think that they want. Those in leadership in the West Midlands have a huge responsibility to get the tone right and the message clear. Of course there will be different emphasis, and of course there will be different priorities. That is the core of our political system.

But what we cannot allow is the poison that drips from the far right on race, immigration, refugee status and the division that they will try and introduce, in our communities based on these issues. Local politicians have a huge responsibility to ensure that they run our towns and cities in an efficient and effective way giving no room for disillusioned voters to take refuge on the extreme wing of politics.