Here are 10 things David Cameron’s Tory cheerleaders in Birmingham hope you will forget when you cast your vote on Thursday:
1) 
Tory Government policies are cutting in excess of £800 million from Birmingham City Council’s budget. That’s cuts to community services people rely on – like libraries, social care and children’s services. Even NHS hospitals are now under pressure because services to protect vulnerable people in the community are being squeezed.
2) The average council cuts the Tory-led Government are making across the country is around £70 per household. They’re hitting Birmingham by over £140 for every household in our city.
3) When the Tories & Lib Dems controlled Birmingham Council they complained of being underfunded by the (then) Labour Government, even though Government investment in our city was at record levels. Now they claim Birmingham gets plenty of cash from the Government though David Cameron has savagely cut the support our city gets. They can’t have it both ways.
4) The Bedroom Tax. Over 13,000 in Birmingham are being hit, including over 1,300 in my own constituency of Northfield. I know how cruel this tax – for most local people there are no smaller properties to move to. Record numbers of people are now facing eviction and homelessness.
5) The “big lie” about the economy the Tory-led Government inherited in 2010 – and what they have done to it since.
6) Thousands of families across our city are being forced to turn to foodbanks because they can’t make ends meet. It’s a credit to the people running foodbanks that they do such a great job. But shame on the Tory-led government that in the twenty-first century, foodbanks have to step in to put food in children’s mouths. Over 900,000 people are now relying on foodbanks – up from 347,000 in 2012.
7 ) Poverty is not the same as being out of work. Two thirds of the children growing up in poverty in Britain today live in households where at least one adult has a job. They would rather you believe this has nothing to do with the fact that half a million people are on zero hours contracts in David Cameron’s Britain.
8) It’s not only poor people who are feeling the pinch. Families are on average £1600 worse off than when the Conservative-led Government came to power in 2010. Those on middle incomes are being hit hard by this government. It’s only those at the very top that are doing well, thanks to David Cameron’s tax cut for millionaires.
9) When the respected charity, Oxfam, highlighted the state of inequality in Britain, a Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in Birmingham called them a “thinly disguised left wing lobby group” and implied they should be stripped of their charitable status. How out of touch can you get?
10) Despite the scale of cuts imposed on it, Birmingham’s Labour Council is putting protection of children and care for those in need first when setting its budget, and working to bring jobs and new skills to our city – such as through the 1000 apprentices in 100 days initiative. Representing Birmingham in Parliament, I know how important it is to have a Labour Council here fighting our City’s corner, rather than acting as cheerleaders for David Cameron.
I’m sure David Cameron hopes that you and other people in Birmingham will not remember these things on Thursday.
Send them a message that you do remember. Read the ten reasons to vote Labour on May 22nd.
The Labour Candidates standing for election/re-election in my Northfield Constituency on Thursday are:
Kings Norton: Councillor Steve Bedser
Longbridge: Councillor Ian Cruise
Northfield: Carole Griffiths
Weoley: Steve Booton
Can you help on Thursday? Phone me on 0121 477 7746.
