Birmingham MP and former trade union leader Jack Dromey, as the Labour Party’s shadow Local Government Minister, is challenging the Government’s new Localism Bill as it works its way through Parliament. Neil Elkes reports.
Jack Dromey has got Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles in his sights.
With a reputation as a fierce union firebrand he was seen as an obvious Labour candidate to take on the equally robust Mr Pickles.
Having interviewed both politicians in recent weeks, it is safe to say any debate involving the two is going to be lively, bordering on angry.
And the Labour man, a veteran of countless industrial disputes over the last three decades, is no stranger controversy – most recently surrounding his sudden elevation to Erdington MP last year.
It appears that Sion Simon was persuaded at the last minute to give up his Erdington seat in return for a clear path to stand for the elected mayor of Birmingham at a future date.
And in stepped Mr Dromey to take the relatively safe seat in Parliament, along side his wife and Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman.
The new MP has now settled into the role and, under fierce scrutiny from Conservative rivals in Erdington who point out that he was a parachute candidate at every opportunity, has put himself about a bit.
As a member of Labour’s shadow local government team, he is tasked with taking on the Pickles line that councils and communities are to be given unheard of power to set their own destiny.
Instead, Mr Dromey sees Pickles attacking local government and claims Birmingham’s Tory-Lib Dem coalition has failed to get a better deal for the city.
At times, he compares Mr Pickles to Henry VIII in his acquisition of power and says the “power to local people” line put out by the Government minister is a “confidence trick”.
Mr Dromey said: “Eric Pickles is building up localism at the same time as implementing the biggest cuts in local Government history. Birmingham, a city of high need and unemployment is facing £212 million in the first round of cuts.
“It’s blatant poppycock to talk about belief in local people making decisions, if by your actions those people are hard hit.”
He draws from a mental list of funding figures to argue that Birmingham is hit twice as hard as Surrey and asks why the council is not standing up to Whitehall or getting a better deal.
“The Liberal Democrat leader of Birmingham Paul Tilsley wrote a letter to the Times protesting against the scale of the cuts, and 24 hours later he signed up to the biggest budget cut in Birmingham’s history,” he adds.
