Interview with Amartya Sen

This week, I published my argument for Labour’s approach to creating a country of ‘powerful people’. I mentioned that over the last ten years, I have been much influenced by the way I thought about this, by my practical experience trying to regenerate Hodge Hill, and philosophically, by Amartya Sen. Sen’s book, An Idea of Justice, was published this summer, and a few weeks ago I interviewed Prof Sen about his work. You can access an excerpt of the interview below…

Guarantees not gambles

Some will have seen news in the Guardian and elsewhere today about rights to new services for people with suspected cancer. For those who want more background about the government’s approach to rights, have a look at Working Together  – our strategy for public service reform; World Class Public Services, where we looked at how rights can preserve equity while devolving power. My speech to the CBI sets out some more of the background argument.

Thanks to Big Lottery Fund

Yesterday, we had simply the most extraordinary turn-out for our Big Lottery Fund Awards for All masterclass at the Beaufort Sports & Social. Building a stronger network of social entreprenuers is at the absolute core of Hodge Hill 2020 – our programme for regenerating the constituency. I’ll be posting some of the information we went through and a video report next week, but in the meantime, if you are part of a group in the constituency which wants some help bidding for money, then drop me a line. Also email me if you are doing great things locally – we want to build a stronger network of community activists where everyone knows what’s going on, and how to get involved. Thanks to all who came along – and thanks to Big Lottery Fund for answering my call to come and tell us more!

Jaguar Land Rover

Lots of workers at Jaguar Land Rover live in Hodge Hill, and they’ll be worried about the plans that Jaguar Land Rover announced today.

I rang the directors to discuss their plans this afternoon. Here’s what they said.

Firstly, and most importantly, JLR said that they are absolutely committed to the West Midlands – and want to build ’significant’ numbers of new cars in the region. I think the firm will need the same number of workers in the region to build all the new models, which is why JLR has said they don’t want to see compulsory redundancies.

Secondly, when I asked whether government was doing everything they could, JLR said yes – and they were especially grateful for the £10 million of government aid to build new models.

I agreed to lobby hard for the kind of automotive research institute that will help keep our industry at the world’s cutting edge. Long term, that’s the way we boost manufacturing jobs, not see them go abroad.

The company must discuss these changes with the trade unions, and I’ll be in touch with them in due course.

I’ll keep you up to date with news as I hear it.

The New Opportunity Economy

Below is the full text of my John Smith Annual Finance Lecture; The New Opportunity Economy. There’s a bit of a trail in the Guardian today. The argument is simple; is we make the right choices now, we can not only rebalance our economy towards investment and exports, but we can open the new jobs that it is possible to create to people from a wider range of backgrounds, tackling the issue of low pay, and redoubling efforts to get people back to work.

Mr Osborne’s pattern of behaviour

Here’s the link to my rather long Channel 4 interview about George Osborne’s school-boy economics. A transcript of my Sky interview is below.

Basically George Osborne first said there were ’secret’ tax plans. So secret they were set out in Table 2.9 (page 40) of the Budget’s ‘Economic and Finances’ document, and Table C7 (page 235) of the Red Book.

Then we heard there ‘must be a black hole’ because we projected money from taxes goes up sharply in future years. Of course it does. Partly because we announced tax rises for top earners in the last budget.

Second, because as an economy returns to growth, tax receipts go up – part of a process called ‘fiscal drag’. In a downturn income tax falls sharply – by some £12 billion we estimate. But in a recovery, they bounce back. National Insurance contribution don’t move around so much because they are a flat rate tax.

Conclusion? Either George Osborne doesn’t understand public finance. Or, he’s determined to twist the truth. Neither is a good sign for his future. Sky transcipt below….

Thanks to NICE

First, a huge thank you to the great race organisers at the National Institute for Conductive Education, who organised the fab 10K in Cannon Hill Park this morning…a personal best for me – 51 minutes 20 seconds…my knees now hurt quite a lot….

Some of the week’s economic news

The OECD says fighting unemployment – not cutting back inthe middle of the recession – has to be everyone’s top priority; ‘Helping the unemployed and getting economies moving again will be among the most pressing issues on the table at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh on 24-25 September 2009.’  Keynes, I think, would have agreed. Reviews of Robert Skidelsky’s new book on Keynes are out in both Business Week and the Washington Post.

ONS set out latest public spending numbers, recording a £12.8 billion deficit in August, broadly in line with Budget forecasts, as tax receipts fell sharply on the same period last year.

Meanwhile a series of surveys underlined the need for continued government action – not cut-backs – to accelerate the recovery. The Bank of England’s Lending Survey found the weakest flow of total net lending to UK businesses since 1998, as some lenders some lenders said companies used the proceeds of money raised on capital markets to pay back bank debt. In other words, creating ‘headroom to enable them to respond quickly to any future investment opportunities’ But ‘The availability of finance remains more constrained for smaller companies.’

Unemployment figures were published showed a continued rise. ONS, however, confirms retail sales for August were 2.1% higher than August last year and Markit’s survey of labour activity concludes; ‘September data from the Markit/YouGov Household Finance Index (HFI) highlighted a rise in activity at respondents’ workplaces for the first time since the start of the survey in February 2009′.

The FTSE100 posted a second weekly rise, and now stands 47% than 3 March.

Lessons from Sweden; video report now up

Video of Hodge Hill youth group report back from Sweden on how we could – and should – put sport for young people within easy reach now online

The two faces of David Cameron

A simply incredulous attack on the cost of fighting the recession, from Mr Cameron today. He has attacked this month’s deficit figures; and yet admitted in his press conference earlier this week, that his plan for £5 billion cuts in public spending this year wouldn’t reduce the deficit by a penny – the money he said would go to pay for a tax cut for a handful of savers. Naturally, the BBC has carried Mr Cameron’s line straight.

And for those interested, just six Tory policies have been estimated to cost upwards of £35 billion; the costs are calculated by civil servants and were issued under a Freedom of Information request earlier in the week. You can see them here.

Swedish lessons for Hodge Hill

After street surgeries in Bordesley Green yesterday, I had the incredible privilige last night of hearing the report back of a dozen teenagers who visited Sweden to research how we can use sport to transform our community. The group, organised by Comm:Pact, spent some time in Sweden looking at the extraordinary availability – and accessibility of sports facilities, and showed in what was at times an incredibly moving presentation, how better use of sport could transform the self-confidence and self-esteem of our youngsters, equipping them with the forward drive to really make an impact on life. I’ll be posting my video report shortly.

The next step is really feed this work into our ambition to create a sports village trust for the constituency, owned and run by local people. WE took a big step forward last night, in getting a vision for the trust in place. Well done Comm:Pact.

Some of this week’s economic news…

So here’s a bit of a round-up. Bottom-line; encouraging signs that the shot in the arm we gave the economy is beginning to work – hence we’re cautiously optimistic that growth will return by the end of the year.

NIESR, a leading independent forecasting team, said in its rolling 3 month estimate of GDP was now positive – based largely on figures showing that manufacturing output rose sharply, by 0.9% last month.

One of the key indicators of forward confidence, hit an 18 month high. The PMI survey reported; ‘Output rose for the fourth successive month and at the steepest pace since February 2008′. The manufacturing index rose at the fastest rate since December 2007. The ONS also reported that; ‘Total production output increased by 0.5 per cent between June and July’. 

The UK stock-market broke the 5,000 mark – a level last seen last October – before falling back a bit today.

Finally, much depends on the shape of world growth and trade. Economists are revising up estimates of global growth next year. The IMF argued ‘high-frequency data point to a return to modest growth at the global level’, and the OECD say; ‘Recovery from the global recession is likely to arrive earlier than had been expected a few months ago but the pace of activity will remain weak well into next year…Governments will need to continue to stimulate their economies as rising unemployment and weak housing markets continue to dampen private demand’

Our fantastic new school

I’ve reported before on the fantastic £9.5 million new Colebourne and Beaufort School, which I helped open with Schools Secretary Ed Balls on Monday. My video report is now online on LiamTV. The even better news? We have won some £40 million from the Education Secretary to rebuild more schools for our young people across the constituency. Our campaign to make Hodge Hill the best place in Birmingham to be a young person is starting to pay off. So when the leaflets asking your support come through your door – please keep filling them in!

The economic divide

Nick Robinson put it rather well last night. The political divide in Britain has been clear for some time. But with Mr Cameron’s speech last night, the economic divide became crystal clear. Mr Cameron has set himself against the fiscal stimulus we put in place. Here’s what he said; ‘”You need to start the process of bringing spending down now. In practice that means that the substantial increase in spending next year, which is currently planned by Labour, is unaffordable. ” He said the rise in public spending next year was; ‘political calculation, not economic necessity. “

This is a recipe for putting the recovery at grave risk. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s a selection of thoughts….

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Head of IMF at Bundesbank conference on 4 Sep: “Unwinding the stimulus too soon runs a real risk of derailing the recovery, with potentially significant implications for growth and unemployment” …”Premature exit from accommodative monetary and fiscal policies is a principal concern.”

ECB President Trichet 4 Sep 09 “Now is not the time to exit.”

Martin Wolf (9 September):”The response to the crisis was both essential and successful. But it is still too early to declare victory. Now suppose that, instead of keeping calm, the authorities are frightened into premature monetary and fiscal tightening. Given the extreme fragility of the private sector, that could cause another economic downturn.”

David Blanchflower (formerly of the MPC): “I am worried that in the UK and the rest of Europe people don’t appreciate that unemployment is still rising and that this, alongside rising negative equity, will be extremely damaging for confidence and for the broader economy. Despite these figures, banks are still not lending; these are not green shoots – they are just noise” 9 September

Paul Krugman: “Just a brief reminder. Industrial production is now rising; so, probably, is real GDP. Given the way the official business cycle dating committee dates recessions, this probably means that the recession – again, as officially defined – is over. But unemployment is still very high and rising. As Calculated Risk points out, long-term unemployment – which is the most destructive in human terms – is at its highest level recorded since the Depression. And the purpose of stimulus is, first and foremost, to mitigate unemployment. The fact that the economy may be technically in recovery is irrelevant.”

Bottom-line: Mr Cameron is as wrong on economics as he is on politics…

Osborne detached on Marr

George Osborne today did a good impression on the Marr show, of being completely detached from the economic realities of the moment. On the one hand, he said the recovery wasn’t in the bag. Then he refused to support any of the measures we’ve put in place to make sure the recovery is delivered! (globally, by the way, we’re only half way through the stimulus agreed this year). Here in Britain, Government plus Bank of England action is supporting upto 500,000 jobs and helping hundreds of thousands stay in their homes. Cutting that back is simply a recipe for a recovery that doesn’t happen.

More curious was his inability to give a word of detail about the vast spending cuts he’s proposed (you can tell he’s not in control of the shadow cabinet, because they keep making big spending committments). We heard a bit in the press about ‘boomerang bosses’ – but this is something the Audit Commission is already investigating. Anyone would think he’s making it up as he goes on air. Yet, this is a time for sensible economics, not school-boy politics…

Update on G20 progress yesterday

Here’s a summary of some of the key G20 outomes, agreed yesterday. The meeting of finance ministers was ahead of this month’s Pittsburgh Summit. Yesterday, Alistair Darling brokered agreement to tough global rules on pay, and ordered the Financial Stability Board to thrash out how the rules will be implemented ahead of the Pittsburgh Summit at the end of the month, around four principles;
o Greater disclosure and transparency
o Deferral, clawback of bonuses to ensure no rewards for failure
o Stronger corporate governance – including more independent remuneration committees
o Exploring possible limits on total remuneration in a way that actually works internationally (so one country isn’t played off against another)

These rules are part of wider reform of financial regulation, where G20, led by US and UK, stepped up the pressure on the Basel Committee – the global body responsible for capital rules – to quickly deliver:
o More stringent capital requirements designed to rein in reckless risk taking: more and better capital; countercyclical requirements; leverage ratio added to Basel framework; minimum high quality liquidity standards
o Living wills and cross-border resolution regime

Against the backdrop of signs that the global economy is improving as a result of the concerted international action agreed at the London Summit, Finance Ministers also agreed that the greatest risk to recovery would be to think that the job is done and that sanctions should be taken against tax havens that don’t come into line by March 2010 – delivering on London Summit’s commitment to end tax secrecy for good.

And, as part of the implementation of the agreement reached in London in April 2009, and ahead of the Pittsburgh Summit and IMF Meetings in early October, Ministers also announced that commitments to deliver an additional $850 billion to the IMF and World Bank were almost complete and looked forward to substantial progress at Pittsburgh on an increase in voice and representation for emerging and developing economies in the IMF and World Bank.

PM and Chancellor on public spending…

For those who take an interest in these things…here’s the link to Alistair Darling’s interview in the Times, and below is the part of the Prime Minister’s speech to the G20 today…

“Now, we have also made clear that over the following years we will
invest in the future within a framework of sustainable public finances
that we are all committed to achieve. 

Because of the loss of tax revenue in all countries and necessary measures to support the economy, gross government debt ratios, as reported by the IMF, which were on average 80 per cent before the crisis began, are expected to rise to nearly 120 per cent in advanced countries.  Although in the United Kingdom we start from the position that gross and net UK debts are relatively lower than many G7 and G20 countries, we’ve already made clear that we are committed to halving our fiscal deficit over the next five years, and to achieve this we have already pre-announced specific tax increases including raising the top rate of tax and reducing reliefs for those on highest incomes. 

Alistair Darling and I have spoken, too, of hard choices needed in public spending over the coming years, and we won’t flinch from the difficult decisions that are necessary, and we will always act in accordance with our core values of fairness and responsibility, and to take just one example from decisions implemented this week, by finding new efficiency savings in our education budget we have been able to begin and finance a new guarantee to every school-leaver that instead of thousands being unemployed as in the last recession for long times, each of them will have the chance to receive training and work opportunities. 

So our tough approach will be based on an approach that emphasises front line services – front line first – to shift resources from where we can achieve greater efficiency, reducing costs where we can, selling assets where we no longer need them and giving priorities to investment that can secure the jobs of the future and deliver improved front line services to the members of our public.”

Amartya Sen

I interviewed Amartya Sen today for something I’m writing about how important communities are to helping people really get on in life, and turn dreams into reality. I’ll post a few comments shortly – but in the meantime, here’s some of the key links to the Nobel prize winner’s work. He’s had a massive impact on politicians of my generation, and Development as Freedom (1999), was probably one of the most influential books on me, I’ve read.

Many of Prof Sen’s early lines of argument were set out in ‘Equality of What’. His Nobel prize autobiography is here and his Nobel lecture is here. The work developing a definition of exactly what kind of ‘capabilities’ societies should help support was developed together with Martha Nussbaum, whose bio page at Chicago university is here. Finally, some of the thinking about capabilities in high income countries is underway. You can access the links here.

Labour’s local action network

When I scraped home in the 2004 Hodge Hill by-election by 450 votes, I knew I had a fight on my hands to win the next election.

But as we organised endless street surgeries and coffee mornings, we realised that victory was not going to come from politics as usual. There was a “frustrated force” of people who wanted to participate but to reach them meant kicking an attitude problem. Too often, we were just asking for votes or help stuffing envelopes. That ask was – and is – critical. But we failed to ask a second question. What could we the Labour party do, to help people change what was going on outside their front-door?

So we patiently started helping local people bid for money and projects, and things started to happen. E-Caffs started for teenagers. Training for people seeking work. Outreach among disaffected youngsters on our toughest estates. ‘Frustrated voices’ became community activists. And the community activists started joining the Labour party.
These “social entrepreneurs” didn’t want to change Britain simply law by law, they wanted to change it street by street. They needed advice, connections, money and perhaps above all, someone who believed in them. That’s what we helped provide.

Today, many have not only joined the Labour party, but they’re out door-knocking with me on Friday nights. A month ago, one sought selection as a Labour council candidate. He won hands-down.

Our story in Hodge Hill is only one story of political change. But as I’ve talked to activists around the country, I’ve heard strong endorsement. One said “so basically you want the Labour Party to be a community service organisation like the WI or British Legion”. Another said “it sounds just like what the Church of Scotland do where my mum and dad live”.

I think that’s right. The Labour party needs to be the home of realistic radicals who change their local community. And two big changes in Britain mean the opportunity to do this is now. 
 
First, we can connect community entrepreneurs to the new centres of local power we’ve created in Government: neighbourhood policing, Sure Starts, new schools and youth centres. The places community activists can partner with to improve services – whether its new beat patterns, youth clubs, or advice on getting a job.

Second, twelve years of Labour has helped Britain become a more progressive country with a bigger army of active citizens. We can connect these people to each other – and to the forces of political change. Indeed, unless we connect to this new force, we are missing one of the biggest opportunities handed to our movement this decade.

The online world can help. A few of us are setting up a virtual organisation – www.localactionnetwork.co.uk – to connect social entrepreneurs and community activists with Labour activists and politicians who want to help. Please log on and help us build it! 

But this is only the start. Because this is not going to be a battle that is won or lost online – as they are discovering in America. In February I met young Democratic leaders in Washington to discuss how the Internet transformed electioneering. The challenge they talked about? How to turn a 13 million strong database – gathered by the Obama campaign – into local change. 

An email list can’t simply be kept ‘on tap’ for a national purpose. It should be let off the leash for local change. The next frontier, we agreed, is not simply how to mobilise communities to ’serve’ political parties – but how to mobilise parties to change streets and serve communities.

As I’ve discussed this argument with activists up and down the country, I couldn’t but be struck by the echoes with Labour’s past. Before we were born as a political party, we started the movement of mutual help, self-organisation, getting things done for ourselves. I believe this is happening all over again in modern Britain. We need to lead it.

Getting on, getting ahead

Tomorrow I’m publishing a major report about ’social mobility’ over the last 30 years. What does that mean? Its simple. Is it easier to get ahead and get on today, or harder? There’s some good news – and some powerful lessons from the past. It seems that despite the huge economic, social and political change between 1970 and 2000, social mobility didn’t get better. It stayed the same.

Now, finally it could be getting better. Early evidence from Bristol University shows that parental income could be beginning to have less of an influence on the exam results of kids born in 1990/91. That hasn’t happened by accident. Investment and reform in early years services, schools, vocational education and work-based training are all vital for the future. But our task is two fold. Investing in a more mobile society. And second capturing a big chunk of the high value jobs that come with the doubling of world wealth over the next 25 years, so there’s more high paying jobs to go round. Tory confusion and cuts won’t deliver that.

Justice seen is justice done

I’ve been campaigning for more police with tougher powers since I was elected as a MP. Today I’m launching my new campaign to help make sure local residents have their voice heard shaping the priorities of our new, excellent local police teams. What’s more, I want local offenders clearing up local mess – repaying their debt to our community.

So I’ll be writing to thousands of local residents asking their views on local priorities – and grot spots that need a face-lift. And today we got some help from my old boss, the Home Secretary. She’s given £50,000 to Birmingham to hire a police and justice co-ordinator to help get my agenda on the road right across the city. That’s my campaign off to a flying start.

America’s hope and change

We’re about to be deluged with US lessons for Britain. Three lessons stand out.

First, it was the global economy, stupid. This was a race that was transformed by the hits to the US economy, and Obama’s message that governments needed to act to help families and small businesses – not just stand there doing nothing or letting the market run rip.Interestingly, Obama never talked the economy down, just his opponent’s plans.

Second, Americans looked hard at who they thought was going to deliver change, not just talk about it. Obama’s steady, consistent judgement – no flip flops – won out over short term, media-hungry tactics designed to win headlines.

Third, Obama built a new coalition, reaching out to new voters with a kind of grass-roots organisation well recognised by leading campaign organisations.

None of this is good news for David Cameron. He has neither a plan for the economy or the consistency to inspire confidence. Over the last six months he started publishing policy. The result? Flip flops, misfires and misjudgements.

Gordon Brown’s alliance with Barack Obama will be crucial in delivering a new settlement for this new global age.

Both suffered – and triumphed over – adversity in childhood. What’s exciting is that both bring the right kind of values and instincts to work with them each morning.

Well done, Lindsay

As a by-election winner myself, it was a huge pleasure to see Labour’s Linday Roy cruise to victory in Glenrothes. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7710999.stm. Back in 2004, at the Hodge Hill by-election I managed to turn a 14,000 plus majority into a margin approaching 450 votes. By-elections are tough, especially at this point in the political cycle. To deliver such a crushing defeat to the SNP says something very good about Labour and our campaign team - and something even better about Mr Roy. I look forward to welcoming him to Westminster.

Rubbish TV

Big day today. Today i meet the head of street cleaning for my district. Hodge Hill. I got so sick of the state of our streets that eventually I had to resort to posting videos of rubbish strewn streets on YouTube – my very own Rubbish TV. I felt sad that it had come to this – but my constituents love it. People are constantly emailing me to let me know where there’s a mess they need clearing up. I’ll have a simple message for city officials today. I think they are good people. But they seem trapped in some pretty bad systems. And we want faster progress. Watch the videos for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eaj1_MbMauE

Rubbish service?

In my bid for cleaner streets in Hodge Hill, I’ve asked why the city isn’t taking tougher action against the selfish minority that drops the rubbish in the first place. I have some shocking news. New figures which I have extracted show just THREE littering penalties a week were handed out in a recent 6 month city ‘blitz’ in Hodge Hill – at an incredible cost of nearly €300 per ticket issued. Only 54% of fines handed out were subsequently paid. City politicians can’t blame people dropping rubbish and then fail to use the law to fine them.

Pride in what they fought for

A couple of minutes before 11am, I filed out of the office to stand at the bottom of Downing Street to join the 2 minute silence, along with some of the journalists who report the news from outside No 10. It was a stunning moment. In the crowds on Whitehall – and the coverage in the news I think I detect a stronger and stronger appetite amongst the great law-abiding majority in Britain to stand up for the values – like sacrifice – that we think are important.

What’s more I think our young people share that feeling. Joining the remembrance parade on Sunday in Shard End in my own constituency, I was struck that the cadet forces turning out are bigger and bigger – our church was packed. It’s an inspiring reminder of the huge decency that defines our country to its very roots. I think the next generation is going to make the generation that fought that war 90 years ago, very proud of what they fought for.

Working with Liam

Ah well, I guess it had to happen. Someone has kindly furnished the Mail on Sunday with the 2006 notes I gave to my office civil servants to prepare them for the shock of their workaholic new minister and his rather extensive list of faults and foibles. It’s been a while since I’ve read the Mail on Sunday, but I’m guessing that they’ll have some well-justified fun at my expense. In these matters it is always best to remember Gerald Ford’s aphorism to take your job seriously, but never yourself. And as my wife commented, if they think that’s bad, they should see the note for ‘Living with Liam Byrne’….(that’s a joke)

Common cause

Today was a pretty good day in Hodge Hill. At Queen’s Road police station, I heard about the new work of our brand new police team, which has doubled – that’s doubled – police numbers out on the beat in Washwood Heath, and later this afternoon, at Shaw Hill Primary School I got to hear from the school council about how, more than anything else, they want action on crime, reassurance policing and more things for kids to do. When you hear some of our youngsters – no more than 9 or 10 – talk passionately about how they want to see politicians like me get better policing in place it is even more persuasive than any number of letters.

One of the biggest wake-up calls I had as an MP was when i ran youth conferences in all our all secondary schools, I found young people shared the same analysis as their parents of the things they wanted to see changed. They said there was too much crime, too much speeding, they were worried about gangs and wanted more CCTV, traffic calming and visible policing.

The fabulous young pupils of Shaw Hill reminded me of something today. Young and old in our community have some pretty big causes in common.

Gifts

On Friday I met two amazing people. One of the great joys of my job is the work I do to try and build a network of social entreprenuers who are as passionate about local change as I am. I’m always on the look out. On Friday night, I tracked down Jean Preist in Bordesley Green who’s worked wonders for her road and others. I’ve heard about her amazing work, and wanted to meet her, hear her views and say thank you.

As we were chatting I expressed my view that we need to do more in Birmingham to bring different communities together, to show folk the amazing amount we have in common, and the potential of working together to deliver change. Her husband, Joe said something interesting; that in Birmingham, as far back as he could remember – back decades – our streets have always been a bit ‘clannish’.

So, maybe today’s challenge is nothing new. You find in politics that not much is. But earlier that afternoon, I’d met the new man in charge of Saltley Methodist Church, Andy Smith. He too is thinking about how we get people to face out towards each other, not look inwards. He had a simple way of explaining it. We have to stop thinking about the ‘problems’ other people cause us. We have to remember that everyone has gifts – and gifts to give. I think that’s right. In modern communities like ours, that’s the right way to think about how we get out there and ‘build a house together’.

Another victory for Rubbish TV?

Revelations about my 2006 memo provoked a frenzy of right wing interest in this humble blog and many it seemed were delighted to stumble upon Rubbish TV. They may have helped another small victory in our battle for cleaner streets. The Sunday Telegraph carries coverage of my discovery that a city ‘blitz’ resulted in just three fines a week. I was especially critical that at least 5 parts of the council are responsible for keeping streets clean. Now they might be changing their tune. A city spokesman told the Telegraph ‘We acknowledge that a number of departments are involved in keeping the city clean, but we are actively looking towards the introduction of one joined-up cleaning service’. Well, Ithe Sunday Telegraph and me might be a strange combination but if it delivers results, who cares!

No time for indecision

When I started my dot.com business back in 2000, it was like a roller-coaster. Great highs, when you had a sales breakthrough or nailed a new product – and great lows; not least the days when you simply didn’t know if you were getting to meet payroll at the end of the month – or having to explain to the wife that there wasn’t going to be a salary cheque again. Lots of business people will be going through exactly this feeling right now. They will greet Mr Cameron’s ’scepticm’- professed this morning – that government should act to help families and businesses with disbelief. It will reinforce the impression that Mr Cameron has simply never had a ‘proper’ job in his life.

Frankly,this is no time for Mr Cameron’s ‘no action plan’. This global downturn might have started in America but its now hitting the US, Japan and Europe. There’s an international consensus that cutting interest rates plus action on tax and spending is what’s needed. America, Japan, Australia, and major European nations are all discussing how to combine interest rate cuts with tax and spending help. Only Mr Cameron has set himself against global opinion. Frankly, its one more sign that he lacks both the experience and the values for the top job. Its appears he’d rather families and businesses faced to downturn on their own.

Our home ground is the centre-ground

Some of this week’s debate about ‘whither new Labour’ makes me think we’re debating short words at a time of huge global changes. But there’s no doubt that in the space of a fortnight, what John Prescott called ‘the tectonic plates’ of politics have moved decisively. New Labour has shown once again that its home ground is the centre ground. But David Cameron, in a twist that has become the hallmark of recent Tory bids for definition, has ended any bid to stick to the centre in favour of an approach that can only be described as ‘rolling back the years’, back to the 1980s. Cameron’s ‘new Labour’ moment is over. The Tories have reverted to type. And what’s now clear is that they now have no plan for the downturn – and crucially no plan for a fairer society when an upturn comes.

Cameron can sound different to Thatcher. He draws on different Conservative traditions. But both Thatcher and Cameron’s stories have the same ending; roll back the state; accept as inevitable unfairness today and social division tomorrow.

Cameron’s once concern for a broken society may have stood the focus group test last year but it doesn’t seem to be standing the “money where your mouth is” test this year.  This week we have seen the most extraodinary confusion in the Conservative party on economic policy. Yet, their big step is dropping the Tory committment to match Labour’s spending plans. In my article for Progress today I’ve set out a bit of a reminder of just how confused their economic policy has now become – but how they plan too to rip out every rung of the ladder of opportunity – Sure Starts, better schools, stronger opportunities at 16, more youngsters going to university, and workplace skills training – when the upturn comes. You can find Progress’ website here.

This week, we confirmed you will always see us stick like glue to the centre-ground – globally applauded economic management alongside absolute determination to deliver a fairer Britain. That’s always been new Labour’s way. Enduring values applied to changing circumstances. We believe that the life chances of every family and every young person can’t be put on hold. We did that in Tory recessions and we lost a generation.

Down Cotterrills way

Friday saw me spend a lot of time down Cotterills way. Its a place of some history. Not long after this part of the world was incorporated into the city boundaries, some of the first council homes were up, on Cotterills Lane in 1920, based on a design pioneered by the Cadburys.

Before a bit of knocking on doors talking to local residents about local problems, I had the huge privilege of visiting St Cuthberts school – a superb place with a magnificent head teacher – talking to the assembly and school council before chatting to parents in my weekly ’school gate surgery’.

Once again, it was the clarity and idealism of our youngsters that I found so inspirational. They want to see less grafitti and more traffic calming, especially down by the bridge.Let me know what else you want added to my action plan for the area. Its part of our history. We should be proud of it.

New help at work

We had a great meeting at Pak Supermarket on Friday night with our local councillors, some of our leading social entrepreneurs and the leadership of our regeneration zone. I’m just putting the finishing touchs to my Jobs Plan for 2009 for Hodge Hill, so I was interested about a new scheme designed to provide skills mentoring for people new back to work. The theory is that sometimes you can need help for quite awhile once you’re back in business, so to speak. Let me know if you’d like details. Or if, you’ve ideas you want to incorporate into our Jobs Plan.

Aspiration

Investing in aspiration is one of the most important priorities for the next phase of new Labour. This week, I’ll publish a major report looking at how aspiration differs across deprived communities. The truth is our low income neighbourhoods have very different horizons. But some low income, largely white working class places have 10pc fewer kids wanting to stay on at school than the national average. Look out for the report later this week.

Musical Alston

Last Friday took me to Alston school for a chat with the school council and a school gate surgery. I like it here because we’re at the heart of the Norton estate, named after Lord Norton, the last lord of the manor of Saltley – a place with a good 800 years of history. Once again, I was struck by how our children are united in what they want to see; less crime, more police and more for kids to do where they feel safe. I was inspired to see the sheer number of instruments in the school hall. I’m totally unmusical. But there’s few better symbols of the renaissance of our schools than the sight of inner city kids getting the chance to take home tubas, violins and keyboards.

Who inspires you?

We had the pivilige showing the Guardian round Hodge Hill on Friday, ahead of our week’s report on aspiration. I wanted them to see some of the work in places like International school where an inspirational head is re-inventing the idea of how a school sits as a hub in the centre of a community, offering a whole host of new services – like post-16 training, IT facilities for silver surfers, and family learning classes. The point is that to turn around aspiration, you have to harness both families and communities. And schools are central because in poorer places, schools are often the biggest public investments – and likely to remain so given our £35 billion of building schools for the future investment. But, arguably front line leaders need still more flexibility to mix funding and roll out new services.

We had a little workshop with some International school students on role-models and ambitions. They were incredible. Plenty wanted to be doctors, surgeons, lawyers. All wanted to go on to college and university. And almost always the big sources of inspiration were people who believed in them, picked them up when they were down and taught them the value of trying and trying again until they got it right. Inspiring stuff.

Turnaround in Glebe Farm

Something truly impressive is going on in Glebe Farm. This place means a lot to me. Before I got elected I ran my first campaign here back in 2004 against drug-dealing. Crime has proved tough to crack. Yet, this year its down some 20 pc thanks to a new approach from the police and partners, not least the extraordinary Phil Grainger – much tougher enforcement against a targeted handful of problem youngsters plus investment – initially some £60,000 from West Midlands police – in new youth services ie something for young people to do. Inspector Jennings and his team took me for a walkabout on Friday morning to see the approach in action. in my view its fresh evidence of the kind of innovation you can unlock when frontline leaders have the flexibility to bring together a range of funding and develop new services.

At my school gate surgery at Audley school in October I admired the new investment in the school – but more impressive was the number of parents who said they now went to the neighbourhood tasking meetings – and they made a difference. Let me know what your impressions are.

Cameron’s Christmas

Andrew Rawnsley puts the Conservative’s dilemma well today, writing; ‘The Conservatives are struggling to reconcile political tactics with their fundamental philosophy‘. No wonder then that voters are within 5 points of giving David Cameron a net dissatisfaction rating for the first time, according to Mori’s latest poll.  That’s a big deal for him. I’m not sure I can ever remember Tony Blair coming close to that position when he was Opposition leader. So, just as Cameron ends his strategy of emulating new Labour, so his poll numbers begin to depart from the commanding leads Labour established in Opposition. The basic lesson is clear. Because the Tories have refused to rethink their philosophy for a modern world, they are unable to offer answers to the challenges we face today.

Crunch Spririt?

A huge ‘well done’ to the Jamie Reynolds, Ali Reece and the team at Birmingham’s Christmas Crisis who I went to see at Great Hampton Row this morning. Teams of vounteers have been working round the clock to give some of Birmingham’s homeless somewhere warm to sleep, hot food, some Christmas prezzies and some seasonal cheer. There were, quite frankly, an incredibly inspiring lot who have puts in hours and hours of work for others.

Like a lot of charities, the Crisis team have had more volunteers this year. I was talking to the Daily Mirror about ths idea today. Quite frankly, anyone who argues Britain is broken should come and see what’s some of our incredible ‘giving generation’ are upto. There’s nothing broken about the spirit I saw this morning.

Linking the generations

One of the best things about this time of year is the way the generations come together. I’ve not visited many communities where people don’t want young and old to come together more often in the kind of partnership that we feel we’ve lost. Where we can grow mutual respect – and teach each other what we know. So, to help the Cabinet Office is today launching a £3 million fund to help recruit 20,000 volunteers to join projects that bring young and old together. We want the programme up and running early in 2009. Let me know if you’re ideas of things to do.

Not broken but strong

Today, I develop my argument that far from being a broken country, we have a spirit in Britain that is strong. In today’s Sunday Times I argue that sometimes it is when times are tough that you often see some-one’s true nature. This Christmas, when times are tougher than they have been for years, we’re seeing what most of us would call the ‘best of British’.  All over the country we are hearing stories of charities and third sector groups inundated with volunteers who want to do a little something to help out someone else. It seems that what people are taking away from the slowdown is that its time to step up giving. Let me know what you think.

The party of the majority

The battle of ideas in British politics is now back on in earnest – and this week sees the argument strech beyond the politics of the downturn to the politics of the future. And what’s clear is that after what’s sometimes been a difficult year, its Labour – not the Tories – who are determined to stand up for the majority in Britain and not a narrow section of society.

Take our plans for real help now. We propose VAT cuts that benefit all, plus tax cuts for 22 million basic rate taxpayers.

The Tories offer tax cuts for ’savers’ that don’t even reach 60% of pensioners – the group the policy was designed to benefit. Talk about the few, not the many. Well, we’ll stand up for the majority thanks very much. So Monday will see the government’s job summit stretch the help on the table to those who lost their job but want to go back to work. And later in the week, we publish our white paper on New Opportunities.

The argument is simple. This isn’t some kind of old-fashioned class-conflict. On the contrary. This is a battle for the Britain’s hardworking majority for the decades to come. If we invest now, we can not only attract the skilled jobs that’ll be created around the w0rld in the decades ahead, we can make sure that anyone in Britain has a fair shot of getting on and getting ahead, if they’ve the drive, determination and discipline.

In other words, we’re standing up for aspiration. That’s the philosophy that’s always united Britain’s great middle class and our traditional base.  And its the secret to Britain’s success in the years to come.

Gaza

Thousands of people across Hodge Hill have been in touch through petitions and letters and emails about the appalling humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza. I’ve posted my own statement and YouTube video on www.liambyrne.co.uk. Most mosques in Hodge Hill will have received copies yesterday, but let me know if you need more copies.

Cold weather bonus

A huge thanks to my door-knocking team who were out with me in Nechells last Friday. Thank the heavens for the warm reception on the door-step – the temperature by the time we finished was -4C. Tonight, we were out around Gossey Lane school where I have to say, 10C temperatures felt positively balmy.

Fairness doesn’t happen by chance

I will be knocking on doors in Hodge Hill today rather than listening to the Fabian’s excellent looking line-up at their January conference – but I’ve penned a contribution to the conference magazine which you can get here. There’s few better responses to the argument made at today’s conference that the New Opportunities White Paper launched by the Government this week, and which I discussed on the Today programme and elsewhere.

The argument is simple. If we invest now, we can win a big share of the jobs of the future. But if we want to open up those jobs to anyone with talent and a yen for hard-work we have to invest in helping families turn aspiration into success. And takes investment not cuts across the public services we use – from early years to good teachers, to apprenticeships, to university places, skills training and bigger career loans for retraining.

Lessons from America

Amid the acres of copy that is being written on what President-Elect Obama’s administration will mean for the world, and what it will mean for Britain, it is worth dwelling on one remarkable dynamic here since the Obama victory. Namely, that that an opposition party facing a government that has held office for more than ten years, with a leader who was himself elected on a mantra of change, has found itself so completely out of step with the prevailing mood of change that is gripping the world.

It is not for want of trying on David Cameron’s part. By all accounts he got up at 5am to record his video message of support on the morning of Obama’s win. He should have stayed in bed.

The American people did of course demand change in electing Barack Obama – and the British people too are demanding the government embraces a new approach to meet the extraordinary new challenges we face. But what I think what Cameron misunderstands is that oppositions cannot set themselves up as champions of change if they embody the very values that people are turning their back on.

The financial crisis of October last year marked a decisive break with the past. On the day Lehman’s collapsed, so did the failed ideology that government’s overriding responsibility was to get out of the way of markets, come what may.

And yet Cameron has been almost alone in clinging to a dogmatic, fundamentalist approach to free markets ( even President Bush freely admitted last week that he had to throw his free market principles out of the window to try and shore up the US economy). Hence the Tory leader’s complete inability to make capital from Obama’s victory.

Because in the face of this global crisis, the American people demanded an active leader that was prepared to step in to help people amidst collapsing markets and global financial turmoil. Who was prepared to reach out beyond national borders to tackle the big problems we face.

What Barack Obama has outlined since the onset of the financial crisis is that government needs to do more, not less. Look at this quote from his speech outlining his fiscal stimulus plan:

“I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible. If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years.”

This in marked contrast to David Cameron’s increasingly isolated opposition to any government action to stimulate the economy.

Another crucial element to President-Elect Obama’s message of change is his pragmatic emphasis on doing whatever it takes to rescue the economy – reminiscent of President Roosevelt’s action to pull America out of the great depression. Again, Cameron is out of step. He seeks to return to the failed economics of Hoover, not Roosevelt. – seeking to cap the level of debt in the economy at the expense of investment to get the economy moving again.

And so what exactly is David Cameron’s image of change? Apparently it is to bring back Ken Clarke and to promote William Hague. Faces from the past whose only sensible ideas to help tackle the downturn – such as Clarke’s support for a VAT cut – have already been dismissed out of hand by their leader.

All in all, it’s not change. And it’s not a way out of the troubles we face that anyone can believe in.

Message from the Bromford

Just home from an excellent residents’ meeting on the Bromford, where I’ve been campaigning hard to get two empty tower blocks detonated. Residents simply cannot believe the council is thinking of returning them to social housing after spending so much emptying them and ’securing’ them. The big question was if the security costs £10,000 a month, why is their no visible security and drug-dealing in the empty flats. My marching orders from the meeting were clear. Organise some local demostrations, invite Central TV down and dare the head of housing to come and explain what planet they’re on. Watch this space.

Community hubs

More evidence for my theory that schools need to be community hubs from Nansen School, where I ran a women-only coffee morning this morning, with the help of local hero, Rose Ahmed. I run these events because the truth is that women still don’t have their voice well heard enough in Birmingham. Our debate centred on how we build a stronger community starting with our children. But after a hour, we were clear that what we needed is safe places to play (open weekends and holidays, with cheap clubs for kids), excellent teaching – and also facilities open to adults plus, crucially, adult learning and skills training all in the one place. We’re incredibly lucky the Government is committed to spending so much on renewing our schools. If we make the right decisions, these places won’t just be schools, they’ll be hubs for the whole community.

Powerful people

After a lot of thinking, this week i gave my first speech on reform of public services over the decade ahead. Let me knoiw what you think. Modern times are breaking down some of the tired old assumptions about government. Like the idea that strong government somehow ‘crowds out’ community. Or that government has to be gigantic, in order to be strong. My basic message is the lesson i learned from Hodge Hill. i want to live in a country of ‘powerful people’, where every citizen has got the power to get on in life, and help take charge of what goes on in the community they live. Delivering that means more freedom for frontline staff – and a smaller centre of government.

Good news on crime

This morning saw me meeting some of the new PCSO’s in charge of keeping down crime in Washwood Heath. I campaign year round for more police our Hodge Hill streets – because we all know that’s how you bring crime down. This year’s results are proof. Crime is still falling fast in Washwood Heath. There’s good news too, with news of a new anti-drugs team – and it was good to hear our PCSO’s confirm my view that we need cleaner streets and more for youngsters to do. I’ll be putting that point to Birmingham City Council Chief Executive Stephen Hughes next week.

Question Time

So, my first Question Time this week. Great fun. Not only do you get to meet truly famous people like the fantastic Monty Don (who made my wife’s day by kindly autographing my blue Question Time note paper) but lots of people email you views and arguments straight after. One lady told me she was rejoining the Labour Party! But my favourite email was from Tony Landeg, the former chairman of Stechford Conservative Association in the 1960s and 70s. He claimed I was too honest to get promoted any further and had some fantastic anecdotes of campaigning in the ward in the days of Roy Jenkins; the excitement of the count, the Young Conservatives plastering posters on the top of bus-stops (for those on the top deck of a double decker bus) and indeed over ‘the Labour’s’ committee-rooms. And the Liberals who took themselves too seriously to enjoy anything (any change there?). It reminded me passion in politics is a much under-rated virtue.

Socially enterprising

One of the greatest inspirations in my politics are the social entreprenuers who are coming together to change Hodge Hill by rolling up their sleeves and making change happen. In part, they were the inspiration for the Action Plan I launched to provide an extra £42 million to help charities and social entreprenuers step up their help for communities during the downturn. And i couldn’t think of better place to launch the plan than Bromley By Bow – the place i took a group of our entreprenuers last year. Have a look at the launch here.

Fair chances

Liam launches the new opportunities white paper at No 10

One of the ideas in the New Opportunities White paper i launched a few short weeks ago was about how we open up access to elite professions in this country. If we want to bring more skilled jobs to Britain over the decades to comes, then we also have to open those jobs up to anyone with talent and a yen for hard work. My friend Alan Milburn is chairing a panel to study the question – and a call for evidence is now out. You can get more details here.

The MP’s apprentice

Tomorrow sees the Cabinet start their day in Southampton – part of the highly successful programme of holding Cabinet meetings outside London; you’ll remember we pioneered the idea in Birmingham last year. But this week is also national apprentice week, and I am very proud to say I am one of the MP’s employing an apprentice to start work in my hugely busy team in Hodge Hill. Welcome aboard, Sarish Jabeen, from Buckland End!

Real help now

Lots of people have been asking me where they can hold of copies of our new booklet setting out the whole range of help available to people now to help us fight back against the downturn. I asked the Cabinet Office to put together a little booklet called Real Help Now – its a best-seller – and you can get your copy here

Hidden agendas

Have a look at the article page on my blog for a riposte to Iain Martin’s Telegraph column of last week. Iain blows the cover on an underground movement gaining speed on the Tory right. It’s the movement to go far beyond Cameron cuts to public services. It’s the movement to cut public services by £100 billion. Its current champion is Malcolm Offord, author this week of a report called Bankrupt Britain. Offord should know a lot about this topic – after all, he is a banker. And his £100 billion proposed cuts no doubt increase his standing as an adviser to the ironically named Centre for Social Justice.

LDV

LDV’s plans, announced tonight, for a management buyout are an excellent sign of faith by the businesses leaders in the company.

For some weeks now I have been working closely with the company as they have shaped their ambitious plans for winning a big share of the “green van” market. I’ve been playing my part making sure ministers and the most senior officials at DBERR are completely clear about the opportunity LDV has now put on the table and how government can help.

LDV’s management team have also issued the following news tonight.

MANAGEMENT BUYOUT LAUNCHED TO CREATE EUROPE’S FIRST GREEN VAN COMPANY AT LDV

A management buyout to transform award-winning British van manufacturer LDV into Europe’s first green van company is nearing completion, it was confirmed today.

The plan led by former GAZ Chairman and Volvo MD Erik Eberhardsen would make the Birmingham-based manufacturer the first volume producer of electric vans in the UK.

Plans are at an advanced stage, with prototypes of electric vans already trialing with a number of major companies and strong prospects of support from the European Investment Bank. The company is now in constructive discussions with the government about securing bridging support to complete the project.

Erik Eberhardsen said:

“LDV can be a symbol of the low carbon, green manufacturing future that the government says it wants Britain to lead”.

We are almost ready to go, but we need the Government to do its bit. I am confident they understand the potential to secure this exciting green technology in Britain – and the need to move very quickly”.

“We have world class skills here in Birmingham and this is an award-winning company. In LDV, Britain has a real chance to be a world-leader in the technologies of tomorrow.”

An LDV spokesman said:

“The Government has talked about backing ‘a green industrial revolution’ – this project is talk turned into action. LDV has been a successful company and just last week won a significant new order. Short term bridging support for this MBO from the government will secure its future and the future of hundreds of jobs.”

Lord Mandelson has pledged that Britain will be “at the leading edge of the development of low carbon vehicles and green manufacturing”.

LDV which had seen fortunes transformed since GAZ group took over in 2006, has like other manufacturers been hit hard by the global downturn. Sales across the van sector have almost halved in the past three months. GAZ has continuously invested in the Washwood Heath plant putting in over $100m of capital which has created 200 new jobs, new production facilities and world class skills. Its commitment has continued with support for the MBO.

Last week LDV won a three year contract to supply vehicles to timber and builder’s merchant Jewson and its sister company Graham, the plumber’s merchant. LDV will supply 500 vehicles worth more that £11 million, distributed across Jewson’s and Graham’s nationwide branch network.

Real Help Now

The government’s new real help now website is live – www.realhelpnow.gov.uk. It sets out Britain’s plan to fight the downturn and explains the big array of help now on the table for families and businesses.Now’s not the time for cut backs as Mr Cameron proposes. Now’s the time to fightback and invest.

LDV update

This morning will see me back to the Department for Business, to bring together ministers and LDV’s management team. I spent much of yesterday on the ‘phones to LDV’s chief executive and ministers. I remain of the view that LDV could make it big in the ‘green van’ market – but the tens of millions needed means both Gaz group – LDV’s owners – and the government doing their bit. More updates later.

LDV Update, Tuesday afternoon

Joint statement from the management of LDV,  Erik Eberhardson, head of the management buyout team and Liam Byrne, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill:
 
“We had a long and constructive meeting with Ian Pearson this morning attended by the buyout team, LDV management, workforce representatives and Hodge Hill MP Liam Byrne. Discussions are continuing and we continue to believe there is a viable long-term future for LDV”.

Reform

First appearance at the Public Affairs Select Committee today. Always a nerve-wracking experience – but chair Tony Wright is a great thinker on how we reform Whitehall for the future. My basic argument? Simple. We can’t deal with new burdens by building new bureaucracy. In the 21st century, you don’t have to be big to be strong. We’re reorganising at the Cabinet Office to drive this agenda, and today I welcomed Chris Wormwald as our new director general for public service reform. He’s got a big job ahead.

Message from Saltley

A huge turnout at St Peter’s College for my first residents’ meeting in this part of town. I’ve been wanting to come and visit St Peter’ s for some time. The college was opened by the last Lord of the manor of Saltley, Lord Adderley in 1852, for 30 Anglican student teachers on a piece of his land at Over Saltley to the east of Hall Farm. It was intended to be the focus of life in the village that Adderley planned. Lots of residents tonight were angry with Birmingham City Council. We agreed three priorities; pressing the council and police to sort out joy-riders in the car-park opposite St Peter’s; accelerating plans for a new park, where families and youngsters could feel safe to play; and getting the streets clean  – something on which i tackled Birmingham’s chief executive when a saw him a few weeks ago. See my video report here

Real Help Now

Gordon Brown was in the East of England this week to explain our plan for Real Help Now. The PM sets out the three key steps we’ve taken; to save the banks – and our bank accounts; to give our economy a shot in the arm and deliver real help now; and third, to expand lending. This week, our work on “step three” took a big leap forward with deals agreed with Northern Rock and Royal Bank of Scotland to boost lending by some £39 billion. But, we are very clear, that regional and national action, has to be backed by global co-ordination. That’ll be centre-stage when Gordon meets President Obama, and speaks to both House of Congress next week.

Labour students

So, back to Manchester University Union today to speak to Labour Students national conference. It was just brilliant to speak again in the Union Debating Hall where I began my political career some 16 years ago. Labour Students, under today’s amazing leadership team of Sarah Mulholland et al is in fantastic health – and Manchester Labour Club is twice as big as when i left the union. My point this afternoon was really simple. We have to win the political debate about the right answers to the downturn; but as we repair the damage of a market without borders that appears to have lost its moral boundaries, we have to win a debate about the future too. And our younger members should help lead the debate about the decade ahead, and the kind of economy and the kind of society we want to emerge from this downturn.

In praise of Jamie’s

In the margins of today, I’m writing a speech for the RSA this week on public service reform. If there’s one image i want to get across, it’s Jamie’s in Southampton, which I visited in Southampton last week. It’s a homeless charity which has set up an IT business, teaching technology skills to local people plus refurbishing old kit from local companies to help pay the bills. It was truly inspiring. They are a great example of the argument I want to make, that in what American writer, Andre Cherny, calls the ‘post-bureacratic age’ I think we need to draw on the Labour party’s ‘pre-bureaucratic traditions’; the culture of combining government help with community organisation. My friend Greg Rosen showed my a great quote from Sidney Webb to underline this point; in 1923, Webb reminded Labour conference, the Labour party didn’t start with Marx. It started with Robert Owen. Jamie’s is a very modern, and very good, illustration of that truth today.

Renewing public services

To the RSA last night, for my second speech there. (My first was my wedding speech at our wedding reception hosted there). The theme was reform of our public services about which we’ll besaying a lot next week. For most families the worry about the downturn dominates everything. But more and more, people are thinking about the kind of economy – and the kind of society – we want to emerge from this storm. Click here for the text

I think most people want to see a society that’s fairer in the future – where we reassert some moral boundaries on the market – and make sure public services do more to help from any walk of life get on in life. That was the theme of my speech; it looked back on how we responded to downturns in the last century and argued we’ve the chance once again to re-shape the state during this downturn, putting power in peoples’ hands yet making sure that standards and quality aren’t a gamble but something guaranteed. Let me know what you think.

Bring these Towers Down!

A huge thank-you to the hundreds of local residents who turned out this afternoon on the Bromford, to send Birmingham City Council a message; bring our eye-sore towers down. See the BBC news coverage here. Cllr Lines tells us that he’s not yet made a decision about whether to keep the promise to us to blow-up the blocks. Well, don’t take too long. The security is costing anywhere between £2,000-£10,000 a month. In fact some estimates put the cost of emptying the blocks and keeping them empty at £2 million! That’s practically the budget to blow them up agreed in the first place. We refuse to be treated like second class citizens of Birmingham. Bring these towers down!

A new Colebourne

The money is starting to move and change things in Hodge Hill. This afternoon i inspected the incredible new Colebourne Primary School and Beaufort Special School which opens in a couple of weeks. I fought hard for the money (over £9 million) and planning permission – and now, new Head, Stuart Guest, is overseeing the most incredible new school I’ve ever seen. It’s beautiful. And Mr Guest is determined to see the new facilities open to the community. We’re going to campaign to raise another £150,000 to buy an additional MUGA; but all in all its a great step forward towards a proper Sports Village for Hodge Hill, offering loads more for youngsters to do. Well done all!

Gaza

A big thank you to DFID minister, Mike Foster MP for coming to Hodge Hill to brief me and scores of concerned constituents about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza at a public meeting I organised, chaired by Cllr Ansar Ali Khan. You can see DFID’s daily update here. Mike was able to report on Douglas Alexander’s visit to Gaza and – the UK’s new promise of another £30 million in aid and support. But there was a lot of anger at how justice is now secured for the people of Palestine – and a strong demand to see the conduct of the conflict investigated, and prosecutions delivered where needed. My message was simple. Justice for Palestine demands that we don’t just turn our minds to the Middle East at times of crisis. This demands constant debate, focus – and action.

Public service reform

For Sunday media, here’s the text of my speech to the RSA last week. And here’s the link to the primer on civil service reform I launched at Reform on Wednesday.

Working together

Today, we publish our strategy for public service reform for the year ahead – launched at the Nesta Lab this morning. The strategy is very simple. People need public services to help them get on and ahead in life. Now more than ever before. So, we’re not going to cut back investment or leaves standards of service to chance, as the Conservatives propose. The public want guarantees right now, not a gamble when it comes to public services. We want to step up investment – and reform; moving power into the hands of parents, patients and citizens to shape public services to meet their needs. That means no more one size fits all – and it means giving public servants more freedom and flexibility to innovate. You can get the full document ‘ ‘Working Together’ – here. You can read about the launch with the Prime Minister here.

LDV

Much misplaced – and frankly premature speculation today about the Washwood Heath van-maker, with, I argue, a great future ahead of it as a pioneer of electric vehicles. Talks have dominated my week in Westminster this week – and the bottom-line is, talks with government still continue.

Pricking

My light relief this week was a dip into our country’s history, during an audience with the Queen, to witness the ‘pricking’ the list of high sheriffs of the Duchy of Lancaster. The practice is believed to date back to the reign of Elizabeth I, when, lacking a pen, she decided to use her bodkin to mark the name on the lists presented. You can read more about it here. We should make more of these traditions I think. It’s these links to the past that a lot of us treasure about these isles.

A smarter state

Today saw me debating Michael Gove on improvement of public services at the launch of the IPPR’s new programme on the Smarter State. He claimed I was now in a ‘tug of love’ with David Cameron over the phrase ‘pre-bureaucratic era’. What a horrific idea. What’s more, the phrase is not Mr Cameron’s. I think it’s genesis is with Al Gore’s old speechwriter, Andre Cherny, in his great book, The Next Deal. Credit where credits due.

Text of my remarks below…

Service Nation

Anybody can be great, because anybody can serve” – Martin Luther King, Jr

Yesterday saw the US Senate pass what called a key piece of the moral architecture of Pres Obama’s recovery plan – the Edward Kennedy Serve America Act. Named to honour Ted Kennedy who co-authored the bill, the legislation is designed to back the increasing number of Americans stepping forward to serve. Much is shared between the plans proposed by the bill and our own Office of the Third Sector. We too hear stories from across the country of more and more Brits stepping up to serve their communities. We’ll be announcing more measures to support Britain’s great volunteer army in the weeks to come. See Service Nation website for a good write-up of the US plans.

Crisis of Conservatism

If you ever want an argument for another term of Labour government, just look at how the 8 years of Clinton-Gore have been undone by 8 years of President George W Bush. The Center for American Progress, once headed by new budget chief, John Podesta, recently summarised the unbelievable inheritance left for Pres Obama. As they put it;

‘Today, working Americans feel less and less secure, and their prospects for economic mobility seem more and more remote. People are working longer hours than ever before, change jobs more frequently, and have more volatile incomes. Forty-seven million live without health insurance. Few are represented by a union. Many face tough competition from lower-wage workers abroad. The land of the American Dream now has less inter-generational income mobility than many other developed countries. Family incomes have risen on average within generations only because the incomes of women have risen as their participation in the workforce has grown dramatically; incomes of men have stagnated. The additional income from the second earner is essential to cover the rising cost of healthcare, energy, and childcare, among other things’.

Now, even neo-conservatives, like Francis Fukuyama, are attacking the Republican record on markets (he wrote recently ‘very few Republicans have come to terms with the fact that it was some of the key tenets of Reaganism—in particular, its hostility to regulation and belief that tax cuts would be self-financing—that lie at the root of the country’s current problems’), as the left – with writers like Paul Krugman, attack Republican attempts to block the stimulus. Not just economic leaders, but moral leaders, like Jonathan Sacks, have added to the critique.

Dr Sacks recently argued; ‘The fault is not with the market but with the idea that the market alone is all we need. Markets don’t guarantee equity, responsibility or integrity. They can maximise short-term gain at the cost of long-term sustainability. They don’t distribute rewards fairly. They don’t guarantee honesty. When it comes to flagrant self-interest, they combine the maximum temptation with the maximum opportunity. Markets need morals, and morals are not made by markets.’

If the US teaches us anything, its that that Conservatives are wrong about the social safety net, wrong about markets and wrong about plans for recovery. We should keep them as far from government as possible

Remarks on civility

Here’s the text of my remarks to Young Foundation on civility…This is a vital debate because right now people are asking, how do we respond to the common threat we face in our economy by renewing our sense of common purpose in society. Only be strengtening our shared values. Civility is important because it is the hallmark of our relationships with each other – the space in which shared values live. But there are five ‘cutting edges’ for this cause; our constitution, in our cities, our class-rooms, our communal behaviour and our conversations

Jesse Jackson

Newly arrived from Keith Vaz, a rather nice photo of my meeting with Rev Jesse Jackson when he came to the Commons last week.

I met Rev Jackson just before his appearance at the Home Affairs Select Committee. I had to warn him that my memories of the Committee were that they could deal out some pretty tough cross-examination. Rev Jackson, however, stuck me as a man who was up to the task…

G20’s boost for Birmingham

The G20 is not only extraordinary news for the world economy – its fantastic news for Birmingham. Birmingham has always been a city that’s made its living in the world; our services and manufacturing businesses have a global reach. So a $5 trillion shot in the arm for the global economy (the foreign markets we sell to) plus $250 billion dollars to boost trade and a promise of no new trade barriers before 2010 is quite simply excellent news.

The deal to deliver tougher rules for bankers pay and bonuses and a crackdown on tax havens will be welcome by everyone in the city as will the promise of $ 50 billion dollars to help the poorest countries and a commitment to use the stimulus as a down-payment on low carbon investment.

Britain’s fightback against the recession got a huge boost today; that was great news for Britain – and a huge boost for Birmingham.

Justice seen is justice done

If you saw the Evening Mail today, you’ll see me welcoming the arrival of Community Payback in Birmingham. It’s a simple idea. If you’ve committed a crime, you need to pay the community back. Now, we’re asking the good citizens of Birmingham to vote on which grot-spots and eye-sores offenders should be made to clear up. Glebe Farm is one of the spots on the list, I’m pleased to say. Make sure you vote for it here!

Shard End regeneration summit

A big thanks to the cast of regeneration leaders from Advantage West Midlands, the Home & Community Agency, the Learning & Skills Council, the city council, the NHS, plus International School and the Pump, who joined me at the Pump in Kitt’s Green yesterday, to plan next steps on Hodge Hill 2020 – renewing our community for the future. I’m especially keen that in Shard End we find a way of using the £11 million of government money coming to help renew International School as a way of kick-starting a new hub for the area, incorporating new NHS and skills services.  The great news is that people are not only up for the vision, they’re determined to get something done to make it real. Watch this space for news of next steps

Well done Leigh Road!

Last week, I got the fantastic news that Leigh Road Primary School became the highest achieving primary school in the city – and entered the top 5% nationally; what an incredible result.

 

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the school a couple of times – I’m campaigning for better parking control outside and a bigger playground at the back – but I know the secret of its success. A fantastic head – Mrs Julie Davies – and her team, and a marvelous chair of governors, Mohammed Aiklaq.

 

The school has a special place in our constituency because I believe it was the first to be built by the city council (in 1909) in the district, after the both the Urban District of Saltley and the Hamlet of Little Bromwich joined the City of Birmingham in 1891. Well done all!

 

The mask that slipped

It seems Mr Cameron only has to leave his post for a few hours for the Tory mask to slip. In the last couple of days we’ve seen the Tory party announce it plans to help fight the recession by re-introducing fox-hunting, and is now in complete disarray over public sector pay. Mr Osborne hinted menacingly that 3 year deals for nurses, teachers and police would be torn-up. Then ’senior party chiefs’ recanted. We can only guess at the true position. The Independent has a good write-up. Meanwhile, in Birmingham, Tory councillors have attacked the idea that the council might support the magificient LDV by buying their vans, calling the idea “illegal, socialist and protectionist”. You don’t have to look far or wait long to see the true colours….

Rolling forward society?

More developments in ‘mask slipping’ at Conservative central office. Checking my records, it seems my opposite number, Francis Maude, hasn’t replied to my letter asking how he would cut £100 million from the Cabinet Office budget without slicing the cash out of government help for charities. So, I’m putting the question to him again today.

Favourite books

The 15 favourite books I’ve read this year…

1. Conscience of a Liberal. Paul Krugman. Extraordinary manifesto revealing depths of Pres Bush’s failure to deliver growth – and growth that’s fairly shared for America’s middle class. If you want an argument for 4 more years of Labour, just look at how the progress of Clinton-Gore was rapidly turned over.

2. The Next Deal, Andre Cherny. A cult classic in new new Labour circles (at one point several of us were literally passing a dog-eared copy round). Cherny coined the phrase ‘post-bureaucratic age’ long before David Cameron. A manifesto for progressive reform, including a call for the next wave of reinventing government.

3. Malcolm Gladwell. Tipping Point. Best-seller from a couple of years ago. Gladwell examines why trends suddenly go from cult classics to mainstream. Fascinating implicatioms for if you’re interested in behaviour – and community – change and how new movements are formed and catch on.

4. Nudge, Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler. The best popular version of the new field of behaviourial economics – exploring what public policy can learn by influencing the choices people make in everyday life. Inspired me to launch a commission headed by new Government Communications permanent secretary Matt Tee to review potential in UK. Sunstein is soon to be an Obama administration appointee.

5. Geoff Mulgan, Good and Bad Power
Mulgan’s examination of power and the growth of states. Clarifying thoughts on dimensions for new politics and a warning against checking out of public life in the face of complexity; ‘the problem is that if too many decisions are delegated…democracy becomes unstable’ (229), while ‘together social movements and states (which enshrine rights) can make change happen faster.’.

6. From Old Labour to New, Greg Rosen. An incredible tome, few master Greg’s sheer breadth of grasp. Excellent on explaining the differences amongst Labour’s leading politicians of the 1920s and 1930s where ‘big state’ Labour was invented. In fact ‘big state’ was but one of many traditions – and a philosophy that was shared with the Tories – and bigger slices of corporate Britain.

7. Wikinomics. Don Tapsell. My friend Tom Watson pointed me at this. One of best introductions to the new principles of business in Web 2.0 land; truly what President Clinton called a world without walls.

8. We-Think, Charlie Leadbetter. Thought-provoking book illustrating the scope today of mass-collaboration in producing intelligent thought-pieces. Now on line tools – like MixedInk – are bring the same capabilitities within reach of all. Fascinating applications for communities who want to co-create shared agendas – the foundation of community organisation.

9. The Social Entreprenuer, Andrew Mawson. Lord Mawson is the founder of one of new Labour’s favourite social enterprises at Bromley by Bow. He kindly gave me a copy of this book when I took Gordon Brown to Bromley to launch our action plan for helping the third sector. Absolutely inspirational for anyone who wants to roll up their sleeves and change what’s going on outside their frontdoor.

10. The Rivals, Jeff Nussbaum. Jeff was speechwriter to President Clinton and published this account of Pres Johnson’s and Robert Kennedy’s stormy relationship not long ago. Jeff kindly gave me a copy at breakfast in Washington last month, and I consumed it in days. A must read for anyone fascinated by LBJ (I guess I’d better confess I’ve read the entire Robert Caro series).

11. The Spirit of Community, Amitai Etzioni. I didn’t actually read this until this year. Published in the early 90s, much of Etzioni’s agenda has inspired huge parts of Labour’s agenda but remains a hugely important manifesto for what we need to do next; not least devise new ways of ensuring the new community institutions we’ve built – from Sure Starts to neighbourhood police teams – help communities bond together.

12. The Home We Build Together, Dr Jonathan Sacks. I’ve long followed Dr Sacks work closely since his Milennial lecture in Machester. The Chief Rabbi kindly gave me this book last year. A profoundly important manifesto about the paths ahead of us as we reknit new bonds but that ‘belonging means giving…a responsibility-based culture of respect, not a rights-based culture of complaint’.

13. What Does China Think, Mark Leonard. As China ascent to the world stage reaches its final stages, Mark sets out the vast cauldron of ideas bubbing away in China behind what too many feel is a single, coherent ediface. Understanding the different perspectives is becoming as important as understanding the arguments of Democrats and Republicans.

14. Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. Eric Newby. I’m a huge Newby fan, but never read perhaps his best book til this last year. Hilarious, magical and has you reaching for your rucksack.

15. The Reign of Edward III. WM Ormrod. My very slow efforts to write the story of ten great British entreprenuers over the ages begins with the extraordinary William de la Pole, a free-booting wool-trader and war-financier. Ormrod has produced one of the clearest stories yet of the king he served.

Ed Balls

The write-up in today’s Sunday Times of the weekly, reflective meetings I co-chair with Ed Balls is not only inaccurate, it’s nonsensical and pretty offensive. In the all the months, I’ve worked closely with Ed, I’ve only ever seen him totally, professionally, focused on helping build a better country.

He is a first-rate colleague to work with, he’s superb at his job, and that’s why the Opposition fear him. But the real point here is that media gossip and invention like this story, are simply not going to blur what is our total, unremitting and unrelenting focus on fighting back against the worst global downturn for generations. That is what the British public pay us to go to work to do – and we are absolutely determined we won’t be knocked off course.

 

 

 

Good news for charities in Budget 09

Good news in today’s Budget for charities who are doing such an amazing job helping people up and down the country.

The big news was the announcement of a new £16.7 m Hardship Fund for charities, voluntary and community groups and social enterprises in England.

This is new money, aimed at helping organisations providing front line services which have been hit by the recession, including those who have been hit by financial turmoil.

More details on how the fund is going to work will follow soon from Office of the Third Sector based here in the Cabinet Office shortly.

The Chancellor also announced a consultation on the design and function of the Social Investment Wholesale Bank. The consultation will take place in the summer – further details will be available here shortly

St George’s Day speech to Quillam

Here’s the text of my St George’s Day speech to think-tank, Quillam. My basic argument is simple. We need stronger shared values in our country. Liberty is one of the finest traditions we have in this country. But we need to draw on traditions of freedom celebrated by John Milton and Harrington that don’t simply emphasise what we can take from society – the ‘take-away society’ - but what we can give back.

Hodge Hill helps inspire community service

It was a huge privilige this morning to help the Prime Minister launch our first ever national community service plan, in East London. See the video here. The idea is simple. An ambition to create a Britain in which there is a clear expectation that all young people will undertake some service to their community, and where community service will become a normal part of growing up.

Part of the inspiration behind my involvement is the incredible work we’ve done with young people in Hodge Hill. They taught me that volunteering and community service opened a new world of possibilities for them, and gave them a new sense of the world around them – and, crucially how they could get on and up in life. Thank you for your inspiration.

New Labour’s new test

Post-Budget, there’s an awful lot of nonsense knocking around about the ‘demise of new Labour’. Let me take this head on. New Labour has just passed it’s greatest test. It’s shown its a philosophy not just for good times, but for tough times too.

Let me explain. Alistair’s budget this week was in essence a one nation budget. For the many and not the few.

John Reid put this well last Wednesday on Sky. If you’re in the middle of the worst downturn since the World War 2, you have to decide whether to act or not, to protect jobs and homeowners. We say, you need to act. Now, given that will cost money, we have to be upfront about how we return to balance – even if its a difficult picture. Alistair did this clearly. Third, to restore balance you have to make efficiencies, so be aggressive, but protect frontline services. Again, that’s what Alistair did. We’ll make £5 billion in efficiencies next year, but frontline health and education budgets go up substantially.

And, finally, if you need to bring in more money, do so fairly. So, the top 1% of earners – those who have done really well over the last decade – are asked to make more of a contribution. Those on under £40K are protected (remember even though NI goes up a bit, its offset by the boost to personal allowances). And people on under £100K are protected from income tax rises too.

This is simply a fair deal – the essence of new Labour. A safe – but fair – pathway back to balance.

The second half of the argument is to look at where we’re investing. We’re clear. We’re investing in protecting opportunity; the corner-stone of new Labour.

So, over £1billion goes to helping make sure that 18-24 year olds don’t spend longer than 12 months out of work or training. We refuse to see a generation written off as we saw in the 1980s. And well over £1 billion extra goes to make sure Job Centres continue to offer a personalised service to all even if unemployment goes up. That new service has helped put 1 million back into jobs this year.

Second, there’s £1 billion in tax breaks to encourage businesses to invest in capital equipment today – in readiness for the upturn – so this is a business-friendly budget. Third, savers are better off because we’ve raised the thresholds for ISAs. Fourth, we lay out clear strategic investments in low carbon technology and other strategic industries because we know they are critical to new industries and new jobs.

There are other criticisms that need taking head on. Some question the growth forecasts. But they are perfectly in line with the return to growth in Britain we saw after the last two recessions – and as Paul Krugman notes today, there’s been a huge monetary stimulus delivered in Britain which few others have matched.

Finally, some question the prospects for long term spending growth. We’re clear that spending continues to rise – but only at 0.7% a year. The idea that somehow this absolutely means huge cuts to frontline services is I’m afraid pretty speculative. It depends completely on the assumptions you make about growth in the economy (which depends in part on how well the G20 delivers on its stimulus), the rate of falls in unemployment (and therefore benefit costs) and what happens to interest rates. So, quite a lot of moving parts in the argument!

The real test now is what’s going to happen to Cameron’s Conservatism. I think events have totally exposed as empty of either long-term or short-term answers, and a party without a moral compass.

Incredibly,  Mr Cameron still says he wants to hand £200,000 in tax cuts to the 3,000 wealthiest families. And he wants to cut £5 billion from public spending NOW. Yes, in the middle of a recession. Economically crazy. Of the G20 countries, only Turkey is not mounting a fiscal stimulus right now. But, worse, Mr Cameron is playing hide and seek with the British people about just where this money is going to come from.

I think it’s time to come clean. Drop the marketing speak about ‘post-bureaucratic ages’ and ‘age of austerity’ and give us some straight talking. And the media need to stop him ducking the question so artfully. £5 billion in cuts today means the following;

- Taking 3,500 police officers off the beat, now

- Cutting the skills budget (at DIUS) so deeply that NO young person over the age of 19 could start an apprenticehsip this year, now

- Slicing £840 million from the transport budget, jeoparding Crossrail, now

- Cutting £100 million from our chairities’ budget, ending support for 400,000 volunteering opportunities and 4,000 charities (including the debt advice service in Francis Maude’s constituency), now

Even worse are the Tory plans for the year after. On Newsnight last week (22nd April), Tory Shadow Chief Secretary said he wanted to reduce investment by ‘an extra £6 billion each year to contribute towards reducing the deficit’ (Newsnight, 22 April 2009). This is on top of the £5 billion in efficiencies we’ve announced – so that’s £11 billion reduction in public spending the Tories want next year.

That is simply incredible. And where do they suggest the money comes from? Mr Cameron explained on Thursday morning, on the Today programme;

- Contactpoint (our child protection system)? But the running costs are only £41 million/ year

- ID Cards? Well, ID cards aren’t free. People pay for them. So money comes in to cover the costs. And 70% of the costs are needed to introduce biometric passports which the Tories say they’re committed to

- NHS IT? Well, Mr Cameron now says after the next election ‘will be too late to make any big inroads into the costing’ (Mr Cameron, Today programme, 24 April 2009). So, no money there.

In other words, they have no idea how to reduce costs. What are they trying to hide?

What is saddest , is the Tories now have no plan for the downturn – and no plan for the upturn either. They have no plan for growth, or new industries or new jobs. Look at how President Obama’s plan for innovation-led growth mirrors our own here. But, worse Mr Cameron has no plan for giving hard-working, aspirational people a share of the prizes the future offers. Investment in public services – Sure Starts, good teachers, apprenticeships, workplace skills training –  is absolutely essential if ordinary people are to get the skills they need to get on in life. The Tories’ inchoate cuts plan puts all that in jeopardy.

The bottom line is they offer no safe pathway back to balance. And no plan for helping any of us turn aspiration into success in the years to come.

John Reid on the Budget

I mentioned that few had put the new Labour case for Alistair’s budget than John Reid. Meanwhile, for those who follow these things, here’s a spokesman for Tony Blair, refuting today’s Telegraph story: “Tony Blair has made no comment on the Budget. No-one has been authorised to speak on his behalf. Tony Blair continues to be fully supportive of Gordon Brown and the Labour Government.”

Click below for a transcript of John Reid’s interview with Simon Mayo…

Well done, Stratford

Home from Stratford’s Shakespeare Half Marathon with a new personal best of 1hr 56 minutes, 20 seconds – 2 minutes better than last year. Today’s race was truly superbly organised, with some spectacular English country-side, and what looked like a record number of runners. What is truly inspiring is the number running for charities and in memory of people they’ve lost. On some touch hills, there’s nothing more motivating to see those runners around you. So well done to the race committee and to the local Rotarians. You did a brilliant job today.

Any Questions now online

My appearance now on Any Questions now online. http://tinyurl.com/d5kqzp. What a pleasure to listen so closely to Andrew Motion, our national poet – and how depressing to hear Justine Greening continue the game of hide and seek with the public about where the Tories’ £5 billion in cuts would fall.

Cameron plays Hide and Seek on Expenses

Just as it’s time for the Tories to come clean on their spending plans, it’s also time for them to stop the hide and seek on MPs’ expenses. Last week, Mr Cameron said he would back the lion’s share of the proposals put forward by the Prime Minister to galvanise reform.

So, will Mr Cameron now be true to his word and vote for the changes he agreed are needed, tomorrow? Or will he seek delay and the long grass?

He’ll have a clear choice – to argue and vote for reform now, or let the current system drag on.

The British public, thirsty for change of this long out-dated system, will be watching him carefully.

WORK CONTINUES TO WRAP UP LDV DEAL

A deal is close – with a new investor big enough to back LDV’s shift into the ‘green van’ market.

I have asked Ministers and officials at BERR to ensure that Government does what it can to ensure that any viable bid reaches a successful conclusion.

The deal I helped to reach with HMRC to delay payment of over £2 million in taxes won us some vital breathing space to pin-point some big companies with big ambitions for the company. We now need to work non-stop to get those deals closed.

With a parent company that’s serious about LDV’s future, we can have serious conversations about Government – and European – support for LDV’s electric van plans.

Hodge Hill inter-faith conference

I was very proud to convene faith groups at the Pump in Shard End this morning to talk – with funders – about how we can bring faith groups together to build stronger community ties in Hodge Hill.

The best analysis that came through was the simple idea that faith groups help provide the platform of stability on which we can build all sorts of things - above all, faith helps us fight fear; and fear is one of the greatest forces that stops us working together. It stops us seeing that we have so much more in common than the things that set us apart.

So, we committed this morning to far more combined action – with help, i hope, from Big Lottery Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund. Let me know if you’d like to be involved.

New future in sight for LDV

I’m simply thrilled to bits that LDV now has a new future in its sights. Its been months of round the clock work!

I always said LDV could make it big in the ‘green van’ market, which is why I’ve fought tooth and nail to get new investors to the table and government help to close the deal.

Our game-plan was simple over the last two months was simple. Buy breathing space to find a new investor – and secure the support to help get a new deal sealed.

Last night, we got final confirmation that the government has delivered for us. First, the tax man held off millions in tax while we got new investors to the table. And today we got government’s promise of £5 million more to help a new deal go through.

Lots of people have made today possible, but I want to say an enormous thank you to the Prime Minister, my fellow minister, Ian Pearson and Tony Woodley of the Unite trade union, all of whom were prepared to listen to our case and back the people of East Birmingham. And a huge well done to LDV’s management team and workers for staying the course and staying determined to make it happen.

Lots of people will ask about jobs and production. After my own talks with management and ministers over the weekend, I met Westar’s management in London late on Bank Holiday Monday. They assured me they plan to keep jobs and production in Washwood Heath. I briefed the Prime Minister on Tuesday morning, and put our pitch for help to ministers throughout the day. Late yesterday evening we got the good news. Government would help make sure this deal goes through. So, this is not the end of the road – but its a massive breakthrough!

Trans-Atlantic parallels

If you want a quick and easy guide to how closely the Obama administration now mirrors the UK plan for fight-backing against the recession, see Christina Romer’s – the Chair of US Council of Economic Advisors – testimony to Congress. http://tinyurl.com/orwpxk

LDV’s fabulous electric vans

Friday saw me at Bromford House to check in with LDV’s management team, after news of £5 million in Government assistance to aid a new deal with a new parent company. I wanted to help make sure workers’ wages get paid - but I also got the chance to test-drive LDV’s incredible new electric Maxus.

I fancy I speak with a little authority on these matters having had a spell as van driver early in my career. Quite simply, the drive is superb. Fabulous acceleration. Practically silent. Almost no vibration in the cab. And production ready. Electric vans will be the first big market for electric vehicles nowadays, as delivery vans can spend so much of the day within a 100 mile radius, dropping things off.

I’ve never been more sure this business has a brilliant future ahead of it. Fingers crossed for the next few weeks.

Big week for social enterprise

We’re laying the ground-work for our big summit on Social Enterprise this Wednesday. See Peter Mandelson’s article here. We want to see social enterprise – with their values that major not just on making a profit, but delivering social change – play a much bigger part in our future economy – delivering more public services, delivering more jobs, and delivering more new business start-ups.

£100 million for social enterprise jobs

This morning we’re announcing our third major package of measures this week, to back Britain’s fabulous social enterprises – those great British businesses which put good values to good effect. We want to see social enterprise play a much bigger role in delivering public services, starting new businesses – and creating new jobs. You can find all the announcements here.

Today, we’re announcing £100 million for social enterprises to help young people find work. It follows our big summit with social enterprise leaders yesterday which brought the sector together with me, Peter Mandelson, James Purnell and Hazel Blears. Today’s plan is part of our £1 billion investment to create 150,000 jobs. They sound like big numbers – but behind them is a very basic principle; we’ve not going to let British workers get stuck on the scrap-heap like the 1980s. We going to invest through this recession in getting people back to work.

Communitarian Politics for Britain’s Poorest Places

I delivered a speech last night to the Fabian Society, in the Boothroyd Room at the House of Commons. The speech was on the subject of “Communitarian Politics for Britain’s Poorest Places” and in it, I outlined what I think needs to be done to tackle poverty in our inner cities, and to equip people with the capabilities they need to get on in life.

As you can see from the speech, I drew extensively on my experiences as a community organiser in Hodge Hill over the last five years.

After I spoke, Antonia Bance from Oxfam and Mary Abdo from The Young Foundation responded, and we had a good discussion – punctuated by Division Bells, calling me to vote in Parliament – with some interesting contributions from the audience.

If you’d like to read the speech in its entirety, you can find it Here

The bankrutpcy of the Right

We’ve heard a lot this week about Mr Cameron’s personal ambitions for himself – but almost nothing, again, about his ambitions for our country. Why does he constantly duck a policy debate about anything? Two possible answers. Out campaigning in Slough tonight, local residents were stunned to hear about Mr Cameron’s £5 billion pound public service cuts plan. Meanwhile, over the in US, more and more US thinkers – on the right – are saying the same thing. The right is simply out of ideas about how to grow the economy, and how to help people succeed and prosper in the modern economy.

Not long ago, neo-con Francis Fukuyama said it. Now Richard Posner, – one of the founders of the Chicago school of law and economics, a cornerstone of modern conservatism -  is saying the same thing, concluding, the recession has left Conservative economic theory completely empty and that now; ‘the conservative movement is at its lowest ebb since 1964′.

THE FIGHT FOR LDV GOES ON

I’m disappointed that, despite our hard-fought government bridging loan, Weststar hasn’t yet got the finance in place to seal the deal.

Administration is a setback, but I’m absolutely clear that this is by no means the end of the story. Weststar told me this morning that they are still keen on doing a deal, so our fight for LDV’s future goes on.

Today I’ll be corralling LDV management, Unite the Union, Weststar, BERR, Advantage West Midlands and the Administrator, to work out next steps. The bottom line is LDV has a great product – and it’s worth backing.

I will be continuing these talks in the next 48 hours and I will meet with senior representatives from Weststar when they visit the UK next week.

My new job as Chief Secretary to the Treasury

I’m extremely proud that Birmingham has got a Cabinet Minister again. The credit for this new role goes completely to the residents of Hodge Hill. It’s their voice that I’ve spoken with in Government every day. If Gordon Brown has respected what I’ve got to say, it’s because it’s the good sense of the people of Hodge Hill I’ve put forward.

LDV Sunday night update

Over the weekend, I and my team have been working with LDV management team, the potential administrator and other contacts in the industry. We’ve not yet sealed a last minute bid; there may (stress, may) be more news first thing Monday morning. Failing this, my fight will be for a deal to support a buy-out from administration that maximises jobs in Washwood Heath. I’ve told potential administrators tonight I’ll move heaven and earth to help get help for a rescuer, as long as they’re real about the long term and have equity to invest. I know we’re down – but I’m determined we’re by no means out. The fight goes on.

Thank you Hodge Hill

Last night was, as I predicted on Thursday, a good clip round the ear for the political classes as a whole. But in Hodge Hill, I have a big thank you to say. Not only did Labour come first – we came first by an absolutely HUGE margin. Our results breakdown shows Labour’s team on around 38% share of the voters, beating our closest contenders by OVER 2 to 1. It is, I believe, our biggest majority since I was elected in 2004.

But its not a result that was an accident. It’s down to the simply huge amount of work by our campaign teams across the constituency – a massive well done to you – and because we in Hodge Hill Labour are very clear that our day job, night job and every other job is fighting tooth and nail to renew and rebuild our community for local people. Thank you for the vote of confidence you have given us.

MPs’ allowances

Today – finally – the House of Commons gets round to publishing MPs’ receipts; weeks overdue in my humble opinion.

Yesterday, I briefed the Birmingham Post on my personal experience with the House of Commons Fees Office – the department responsible for MPs’ allowances – and its failures.

Four years ago, I tried to cut my accommodation costs by buying a flat with my brother, who could put up a deposit and help me move fast to save money.

After telling me – twice – that I could go ahead, when I asked for agreement in writing, the House of Commons Fees Office wrote to me flagging for the first time a new concern. I cancelled the purchase immediately – I didn’t even want the appearance of something odd or untoward.

By now I’d incurred the normal costs associated with buying a property – solicitors’ fees, mortgage fees etc. So I asked who should pick up the tab – was it me? The Fees Office said they should pay – against a rent deposit I had returned.

Four years later, we learned that it wasn’t just me getting duff advice – it was many MPs.

Well, as an MP, I’m collectively responsible for the Fees Office. And quite frankly I do not think taxpayers should pick up the tab for bad advice from a Fees Office that didn’t work.

So, I sent a cheque for £1,757.88 – the full amount of costs incurred – to the Fees Office a month ago.

I do not own a second home. I rent a small one bedroom flat a mile away from Parliament, above a restaurant.

Just 15 per cent of my allowances relate to supporting my work in London. 85 per cent is spent in Hodge Hill – serving the people of Hodge Hill.

We face some big challenges in our constituency. We’ve some of the highest unemployment in Britain. 75 per cent of our children live in low-income families. 40 per cent of children live in workless families. 36 per cent of children are in families which receive working family tax credit

But our community is full of people who want to build a community they are proud of. That’s why I launched Hodge Hill 2020 to bring people together, to deliver new homes for local families, to rebuild schools and nurseries, to create hundreds of new school places, to equip our police and to put new health centres where they are needed. But I need to work with constituents to drive these campaigns. Here are some examples of the things I do;

· I’ve invited over 50,000 people to residents’ meetings on Friday nights

· I do a school gate surgery every week in term time, visit different schools and meeting parents afterwards on the school gates. Plus most weeks I’m out on the doorstep for 1-2 hours taking down local problems

· I hold six advice bureaux a month all over Hodge Hill for a total of 9 hours – plus countless hours of follow-up

· As a result, Hodge Hill has one of the largest caseloads of any constituency in the country. I estimate that last year me and my team served over 4,000 people personally, with thousands more benefiting from our campaigns

· I’ve held countless meetings with head teachers, police officers, district directors, youth groups, community groups, voluntary groups and local charities.

So I’m clear that every single penny I spend on serving the people of Hodge Hill is money they deserve. But here’s the breakdown of costs;

Staff costs

2005/6 2006/7 2007/8
£81,081 £88,219 £91,461

Of the £91,461 spent in the 2007/08, the overwhelming majority – 71.8% – was spent on staff working in Hodge Hill. Since November 2008, all of my five staff members – representing 100% of my staff costs – have been based in Hodge Hill.

Incidental Expenses Provision – Office costs

I rent a constituency office in Hodge Hill for £500 a month, with the rest of the costs going on phone bills, utility bills, photocopying, stationery, postage and costs associated with holding meetings and surgeries around the constituency.

2005/6 2006/7 2007/8
£21,100 £19,406 £20,273

If anyone wants to ask me questions about the claims, I’ll be happy to respond. It’s your money, and you have a right to know where it’s being spent.

I think today’s news is going to prove – again – that Gordon Brown was dead right to break the deadlock on expenses reform, and to demand change to the ‘Gentleman’s Club’ of Westminster. Some attacked him for not going ahead by consensus; but the truth is the House of Commons failed to sort out the mess itself. So leadership was needed.

LDV update

A few people have asked me about LDV this week, so time for an update. The bottom line is that the administrator is working through potential bidders for the business to get the best deal possible. There are serious players who are extremely keen to keep jobs and production in Washwood Heath – albeit on a smaller scale – and I’ve met some of the interested parties at the Commons this week. I been clear that I’ll do everything within my power to help the right deal for Birmingham work out.

In the meantime I met Birmingham City Council and government regeneration agency representatives on Friday in Hodge Hill, to make sure all possible assistance is in place for those made redundant – and I’m developing some new proposals to dramatically raise the profile of the East Birmingham regeneration challenge over the next few weeks. We’ve got to start making faster progress to tackle the chronic unemployment in the City. If you’ve been made redundant from LDV and need help contact me, or see www.realhelpnow.gov.uk for the Government’s real help now website.

Cuts from day one

You may have seen in the news today that David Cameron’s Conservatives would make cuts to public services from day one of a Tory government. Whatever he says about public services, it’s now clear that David Cameron can’t resist the Tory instinct for cuts to public services.

The Tories are obviously hoping to hide the details of the cuts until after a general election but the fact is that they would cut our schools and police to pay for tax breaks – starting with £200,000 for Britain’s 3000 richest estates. However warmly he talks about schools and hospitals there is no doubt David Cameron would invest less. He has said very clearly that “a Conservative government would spend less than Labour” and “some areas would be cut”. This year alone he would cut £5 billion from public services – that’s equivalent to a cutting 3,500 police immediately.

And in the future, no matter what the economic landscape, he would cut public services by even more – cuts of 10 per cent according to the Shadow Health Secretary. That’s the equivalent of 15,000 police – equivalent to 30 bobbies off the beat in every constituency. Under David Cameron’s plans the British people would have to expect less from public services. Not just because of the cuts his party would make. But because their approach to public services, like their approach to the economy, is not to stand by people but walk on by.

A new agenda for public services

My Guardian interview on our new agenda for public service reform is now up here. You can read a bit of the background in a speech I gave to the CBI a week ago, here. The essence of this argument for progressives is simple; you can be radical about power and realistic about money. There isn’t a trade off between the two.

A new agenda for Birmingham

While we’re on the subject of new agendas, I’ll be posting shortly my speech to the Be Birmingham conference this morning, trailed in the Birmingham Post yesterday. The argument was blunt. In the 19th century we were called ‘the best governed city in the world’. I say that we should set that as our ambition again. We could be leaders in new industries like digital, low carbon and life sciences. And we can open new jobs to citizens from all corners of Birmingham if we use the £1 billion we’re given on education and skills spending better. And with the new wealth its possible to create we can renew our communities, starting with stronger community justice and a renaissance of home-building.

More on public service reform

My interview on Today programme, broadcast this morning, now online.

Today’s GDP figures

These GDP figures are historic figures on the state of the economy 3 to 6 months ago, and once again underline the scale of the global recession, the hit to business confidence and the absolute necessity of urgent government action to deliver real help now to businesses and families.

They don’t change the judgement made by the Chancellor in the Budget that growth will return at the end of the year.

Our plans to halve the deficit within 5 years remain on track because of the cautious assumptions about share prices, unemployment and the loss of output from the shock to the economy built into the Budget and today’s figures don’t change our view on the public finances.

Be Birmingham speech

Last week, I made a speech challenging the speed of progress in East Birmingham. Here’s the link to the text posted on the Treasury website. http://tinyurl.com/klymuw

Breakfast in Leeds

Yesterday I got the chance to help launch Building Britain’s Future with the PM in Yorkshire. At a business breakfast in Leeds I heard first hand, to a man and woman, that people are up for the challenge of the future. They think Britain can do well in the years to come. But if only we keep the recession short and shallow, and invest in infrastructure, skills, science and a low carbon country for the years to come.

School place breakthrough – thank you, Mr Balls!

The Birmingham Mail has news today of a £40 million breakthrough in our campaign for 1,000 extra school places in inner city Birmingham. http://tinyurl.com/km84cs. I lobbied Ed on the need for extra places by bringing him to Bordesley Green to see the pressure on places for himself. Now, Ed has given the green light to £40 million more for local schools. We’re big winners. We’re now destined to have a new primary school in Bordesley Green in 2011/12 plus extra places at Thornton, Greet and Regents Park, with an additional 210 each, George Dixon with 105, and Hodge Hill, 91.

The few and not the many

News reaches me that David Cameron and George Osborne are confirming their inheritance tax plans – in other words, confirming they remain absolutely wedded to their pledge to give £200,000 cash to the wealthiest 3,000 estates, paid for by deep cuts to the schools, neighbourhood p0lice teams and NHS for the rest of us.

However, they try to spin this, the Tories have blown their golden opportunity to scrap their inheritance tax pledge and admit they were wrong to put the wealthiest few ahead of the help that families on middle and modest incomes need.

We actually know David Cameron wants civil servants to get to work immediately on a gameplan to implement his strategy of help for the few, not the many.

The Tories remain committed to a queue of unaffordable and uncosted tax cuts, including an ambition to cut the new top rate of tax – changes which could only come at the cost of deep, wide and immediate cuts to public services for the over-whelming majority of hard-working British families. Who said they’d changed..?

Speech to the RSA with Professor Amitai Etzioni

Fantastic event last night at the Royal Society of Arts, where I and renowned American communitarian philosopher Amitai Etzioni, spoke together on the theme of community.

Professor Etzioni is the leading exponent of communitarianism, and was here to help me think through some of the issues around using public service reform to strengthen our sense of community and responsibility. Having admired his work for many years, it was a privilege to meet him yesterday, and to engage with him and an the audience at the RSA. You can read my speech – which addressed the question ‘Do People Need Community Anymore?’ – here. And you can listen to an audio recording of the event here – http://tiny.cc/Ajk6L 

 

World class public services

This morning I launched a new report on World Class Public Services at No 10 Downing Street – setting out how governments around the world are proving you can be radical about power and realistic about money. We’re passionate about public services. We think that public services change lives for the better – and give people chances to succeed they’d otherwise be denied. But in the future, we have to change the relationship between state and citizen and between the centre – in Whitehall and Westminster – and the frontline. Today’s report sets out some lessons from 30-40 of the world’s best public services about how you can do exactly that.

It involves using entitlement and rights to put power and control over services in the public’s hands; transforming accountability of services through making available often real time information about spending and performance; incentivising personalised services; delivering on people’s desire for prevention rather than cure, and putting the frontline in charge of improving services. It’s a thought-provoking piece of work, and I’d be grateful for thoughts on it!

Power-shift

Below is my Guardian Society article about what we can learn from the power shift now underway in the best public services around the world. My argument is simple. If we want better public services in the future, and believe public spending growth is slower, then we need to be more innovative in the way services are delivered. But if we want to ‘free up the system’ and devolve power – and preserve equity – then giving people rights and entitlements to services is crucial. Alongside this, you need better use of information, a shift to personalisation and prevention, and you need to ask the frontline to lead the charge for service improvement – not dictate or demand it from Whitehall. Text of Guardian article below, or link here. http://tinyurl.com/ljzm9w

GDP figures

Today’s GDP figures underline the sheer scale of the international recession that we’re fighting. It’s a force that has taken unemployment in the US to around 10% – and in Spain to nearly 20%. But today’s provisional figures for April-June this year are about three times better than for the first three months of the year. That says the pace of the downturn is easing – which is why the Government is confident – but cautious – that growth will return towards the end of the year.

What today also shows is why such a bold recovery plan was needed from government. Our action – moving £20 billion into the economy plus action from the Bank of England to slash interest rates to 0.5% and introduce ‘quantitative easing’ could be supporting upto 450,000 jobs. We’re taking these steps to make sure we do everything possible to support jobs and people in their homes, and protect people from the worst of the storm. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s. That would be bad ethics and bad economics.

American economics

A few different angles to the debate about recovery economics from the US. Christina Romer’s argument about ‘bubble free growth’ sets out the basic argument that future US growth must draw heavily on investment and exports – a point echoed by Fed chief Ben Bernanke in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee. Asked; ‘What will the recovery look like?  He answered ‘Slow. The American consumer is not going to be the source of a global boom by any means” 

Meanwhile, Larry Summers’ progress report on the US Recovery Act to the IIE underlines – contrary to a prevailing view amongst some economists – the importance of fiscal stimulus that was ’speedy, substantial and sustained’ alongside aggressive monetary policy. Summers also highlights the difference of this recession to others, in that productivity is going up not down as output is delivered with fewer workers as companies shed workers at a faster rate than predicted; Robert Reich’s cautionary words on the Dow Jones’ passing through the 9,000 mark, echoes the same sentiment. Ben Bernake sets out his view that the pace of decline has now slowed, but again risks remain to employment, and the US needs a medium term fiscal consolidation plan. Meanwhile, the debate rages about the pros and cons of a further stimulus. Hat-tip to Harvard’s Greg Mankiw.

Transcript of Byrne-Etzioni at RSA

The transcript of the talk I gave at the RSA with Prof Etzioni is now online, and the Community Links’ You Tube page has some of my discussion with David Robinson’s team out in East London.  The core of Prof Etzioni’s argument, which has influenced me a great deal is that we need to work on new ways of having what he calls a ‘moral dialogue’ with each other, to establish new norms of behaviour and living. This has to fill the gap – some would say a gulf – that opened with the breaking down of the norms and traditions of the 1950s and 1960s, which in actual fact, few of us would want to go back to. But Prof Etzioni’s message is optimistic; using the example of the debates as wide ranging as Iraq, gay marriage, the environment and the smoking ban, he argues here;

‘I think by now I’ve succeeded in illustrating what I mean, the way whole societies, local communities and increasingly actually trans-national communities, can have more conversation despite as huge as they are, and despite that they’re often heated and emotional. At the end of the day very often they lead to new shared understanding and new voluntary enforcement’

My argument is that this is the kind of conversation that political leaders and parties have to take on help lead if we’re to foster the kind of solidarity which I believe is the key to social progress in the two decades to come.

Demos podcast

I’ve only just come across this link to my interview with Demos, about a More United Kingdom.

Cameron on Marr

I’m afraid Mr Cameron’s interview on Marr this morning was the worst possible cocktail of poisonous ideology and poor accounting.

It is now clear the Conservative’s agenda for public finances now begins and ends with ideology and not Britain’s national interest. Today, Mr Cameron says his motives for cuts are purely and simply the pursuit of a ‘big opportunity’ to shrink the state.

He says nothing about how we grow our economy for the future or strengthen schools and hospitals.  Instead all we heard is cold confirmation of public service cuts to pay for a £200,000 average tax cut for 3,000 millionaires.

And his tired old line about identity card savings was the only so-called efficiency he could think of. He seems to have forgotten that he’s committed to keep nearly 80% of the system for new passports, and fingerprint visas, and he’s promised the balance to at least half a dozen other pet projects.

‘Total Place’ in Birmingham

I brought my Treasury team to Birmingham today to meet some of the people I’m proud to work with in the city – and to look at the city’s work on ”Total Place’. This is a set of pilots in 13 authorities where we’re looking at how we can spend taxpayers money on invaluable public services better, by getting rid of the boundaries between council, police, health service and so on.

I have a pretty clear view. There is no lone gun, no single force that can deliver better public services alone for the people of this city.  The key will be strong local leadership and public servants coming together from every part of the city in a new combined force, powerful enough to deliver big change fast.

Only by acting together will we make progress. That means we have to get the barriers to working together out of the way. 

The BeBirmingham partnership recently estimated that in total around £7.5 billion of public money was invested in the city in 2008-09. That’s a huge amount. Over a billion is spent on education.

Our Total Place pilot in the city will now look at how we redesign public services around the needs of the city with a step change in collaboration between local agencies. The pilot will focus on six priority areas for the city – tackling guns and gangs, children leaving care, learning disabilities, alcohol and drug misuse, plus improving mental health services, and focusing on all services within a particular local community.

A century ago Greater Birmingham was born when Aston, Erdington, Handsworth, Kings Norton, Northfield, and Yardley were brought within the city limits. The driving force behind Birmingham’s creation was an ambitious vision for what a modern city should be.

Now Birmingham has the chance to lead again, by pioneering a new way of bringing together our public servants from all corners of the city, to deliver change.

For the past hundred years our city has been a pioneer of civic life in Britain. It was Birmingham, that helped invent the town-planning movement: groundbreakers, like the Cadburys in Bourneville, created model homes, separate gardens, and wide roads.

In our nation’s battle for education, this city once led the charge. It was in Birmingham – in 1869 – that the Education League began. It was in Birmingham, under the 20 year-long leadership of George Dixon, that the Birmingham School Board became a model for educational authorities everywhere.

A century on, Government investment has helped transform life in the City. Between 1999 and 2008, the proportion of students in Birmingham getting 5 A*-C at GCSE level has almost doubled from 38 per cent to 66 per cent. In health, we’ve slashed waiting times – by March 2009 there was just one patient in the region waiting more than 26 weeks for in-patient treatment compared to almost 13,000 in March 1997.

Now we have to square up to the decade ahead. We have to ride out the worst economic downturn for at least 60 years. We face vigorous competition from emergent cities from Manchester to …

In Birmingham, our first step must be to stop this recession cutting our city deep or long. That’s why I fought so hard to save LDV, and why I will go to every length to see production start once again on Drews Lane. The fight against this recession is backed by a government determined not to make the mistakes of the 1980s and 1990s, which left a generation scarred by long-term unemployment.

But beyond the downturn there is a prize to be won. If we make the right investments today, Birmingham can win a large slice of the one billion skilled jobs that will be created around the world in the two decades ahead – skilled jobs with better wages and wider horizons.

So, my challenge is how do we spend our public investment better, to prepare better for the future?

We have a chance to be real civic pioneer once again. If we get it right, we’ll lay the best of foundations for the future.

Interview with Bristol press

Tuesday saw me launch Building Britain’s Future in Bristol with an excellent debate which I chaired with my friend Jim Knight MP. You can read the interview here. You can get the Building Britain’s Future website here

Kitts Green after-work get together

Tonight I did my after-work get together in the Pump in Kitts’ Green; what was reassuring is local residents reporting far fewer problems with gangs and drugs, and many more saying they saw their neighbourhood police team out and about and knew how to get hold of them. This is a big change over the last year an half. We prioritised three sets of problems tonight; pressing for stronger security on local buses; action to get more cameras in place and better street-lighting; and more work to help every resident know not only their local officers, but how to get hold of them, and what was happening about crime – and prosecutions – in the streets where they live. Thanks to all who came.

This week’s economic news

With this week’s news you can see why Alistair Darling has being saying repeatedly that we’re confident but cautious that growth will return at towards the end of the year. News over recent months has been mixed, but today credit rating agency Fitch reaffirmed the Government’s AAA debt rating, adding the outlook is ’stable’; UK retail sales were up according to the ONS 2.9% on the same month last year; Nationwide reported Thursday that house prices have risen three months in a row, reporting the ‘Three month rate of change at highest level since February 2007′ and the FTSE is back at levels last seen in January. GfK NOP’s also reported on consumer confidence today, noting; ‘Consumer Confidence remains at the same level as last month, fourteen points higher than its all time low of last year, but still very low historically’.

Why its smart to invest in jobs

Yesterday I got confirmation of the Government’s decision to award millions of pounds to Birmingham and its partners to help create 7,500 jobs – especially for young people. Today, there’s fresh evidence highlighted in the New York Times, of just why its so important to keep people in work. Economist, Till von Wachter finds;

“even 15 to 20 years later, most (workers) on average had not returned to their old wage levels. He also concluded that their earnings were about 15 percent to 20 percent less than they would have been had they not been laid off.”

“One of the main reasons for the drop-offs, according to economists, is that workers who endure a layoff are more likely to be laid off again.”

Naturally the Conservative party opposed the Future Jobs Fund…

Rob Sampson links

I have a very strong interest in the links between crime, disorder and regeneration of poor places. Today, I’m ploughing through the work of Harvard sociologist, Rob Sampson, including last year’s BJS Lecture, in The British Journal of Sociology (BJS, 2009), Sampson’s debate with Prof Sennett, Sampson’s interview with Laurie Taylor on Thinking Allowed, and Getting to Grips with Disorder. Much develops the research of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighbourhoods.

Community-led public service change

John Denham’s department announced the winning areas for the Inspiring Communities programme yesterday. This is a vital project that is exploring new ways of turning around a shortage of aspiration in some of our poorer communities. Its a good example of community driven reform of public services; on the one hand delivering services in a way that strengthens the local community – and on the other, draws on the strength of the community for its effectiveness. I made a speech on the idea to the Fabians a while ago. This is a growing field of work. In the US, President Obama is using similar ideas in the national roll-out of the Harlem Childrens’ Zone and other community based solutions honoured at the White House.

This week’s economic news

This week we’ve seen one of the key forward looking indicators of business confidence – the purchasing managers index for Britain’s services sector move up to a 17-month high of 53.2 for July (surpassing expectations for an increase to 51.6); Office for National Statistics data shows an 0.5% jump in June’s industrial production (the largest rise in 20 months) and Halifax says British house prices saw a 1.1% monthly rise in July.

Commenting today, Paul Krugman writes; ‘Two months ago I wrote that there were hints of a relatively quick economic turnaround in Britain. Now those hints have gotten much stronger. Basically, aggressive monetary policy and the depreciation of the pound are giving Britain a boost relative to other advanced countries’.

Finally, the Bank of England has decided to to continue with its programme of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves and to increase its size by £50 billion to £175 billion (the ‘qe’ programme) commenting; ‘”On the one hand, there is a considerable stimulus still working through from the easing in monetary and fiscal policy and the past depreciation of sterling. On the other hand, the need for banks to continue repairing their balance sheets is likely to restrict the availability of credit, and past falls in asset prices and high levels of debt may weigh on spending”

Crime maps and police priorities for Hodge Hill

The crime map for Hodge Hill neighbourhood is here. Policing priorities for Hodge Hill neighbourhood are here.

Crime maps and police priorities for Shard End

Local crime maps are here, and our local police priorities for Shard End are here

Crime maps and police priorities for Glebe Farm

The online crime maps for Glebe Farm are here. The police priorities are here.

Crime maps and police priorities for Lea Village

The online crime map for Lea Village is here. The police priorities are here.

Crime map and police priorities for Alum Rock

The online crime map for Alum Rock is here. The police priorities are here.

Crime maps and police priorities for Ward End

The online crime maps for Ward End is here. The police priorities are here.

Crime maps and police priorities for Washwood Heath

The police divide Washwood Heath into two, east and west.

The online crime map for Washwood Heath West is here. The police priorities are here.  

The online crime map for Washwood Heath East is here. The police priorities are here.

The help Mr Cameron would axe

More on the the precise nature of the extra help from Government that Mr Cameron says we ‘can’t afford’. As economists Paul Krugman, Danny Blanchflower and others have said, we still run the risk of people losing their jobs, despite the encouraging signs that the shot in the arm we gave the economy is working. We’ve focused especially hard on making sure we do everything possible to help people keep their jobs – or get back into work fast.

For example, the £5 billion extra for the Department of Work and Pensions includes £1.8 billion extra for JobCentres – which have helped 2 million people get jobs, since last November. Over £1.1 billion for the Future Jobs Fund, which will help create 150,000 jobs, and over £1 billion for Flexible New Deal and the 6 month gaurantee that delivers extra help to those out of work for a while. On top of that has come extra, to help people meet their mortgage payments or get housing benefits, when for example they’ve lost their job.

What we learned in the 1980s, is that if you don’t help people get work, they stay unemployed for a long time, and end up costing the country more. I thought we had learnt the hard way, that is a price not worth paying.