Guest Post from Praguetory

Sorry I haven't posted for a while - things have been very busy in Quinton! Today's post is a guest post from my good friend Praguetory.

Since 1997 Labour MPs have been returned in all but two of the 11 Parliamentary seats within the borders of Birmingham. At Westminster we rely heavily on Labour representatives. A recently published government report on unemployment by constituency makes depressing reading for Brummies.

With the exception of Sutton Coldfield, all seats in Birmingham are ranked as having among the highest rates of unemployment in the UK, with Birmingham seats taking the top three positions in a league table that you don't want to head.

1. Birmingham Ladywood
2. Birmingham Sparkbrook & Small Heath
3. Birmingham Hodge Hill
12. Birmingham Erdington
16. Birmingham Perry Barr
39. Birmingham Yardley
56. Birmingham Edgbaston
71. Birmingham Northfield
77. Birmingham Selly Oak
78. Birmingham Hall Green
446. Sutton Coldfield

In 1997, unemployment in Birmingham was 10.6%, 1.7 times the national average. In 2006, unemployment in Birmingham stands at 8.9%, 3.4 times the national average. In every year since 1997, the difference between unemployment rates in Birmingham and the rest of the country has widened.

And yet, Steve McCabe, a government whip and the Labour MP for Hall Green is in denial in Monday's Birmingham Post! Since 1997 Labour has utterly failed the people of Birmingham. Their locally elected politicians such as the mendacious McCabe stand complicit.