Quinborne Open Day, Saturday 22nd May

Hope you can make it!

Happy St George's Day - Birmingham's No 1 for Events!

Can I wish everyone in Quinton Ward a very Happy St George's Day. I don't believe I'm alone in thinking that this particular day may have been a little overlooked in the past, but no longer, and certainly not in Birmingham.

The independent group StGeorgesHoliday.com has ranked Conservative-led Birmingham City Council No 1 in commitment to St George's Day events, beating Manchester into second place. Something else to celebrate today!

Manifesto Launched in Birmingham

Today in Birmingham, as well as the monthly meeting of the Council, we also had the regional launch of the Conservative Manifesto for the General Election.

Any accusations that we're light on policy were firmly put to bed today, if they were ever true in the first place. Among the tons of policies in the manifesto, here are a few corkers:

1. We will reverse Labour's unnecessary and damaging National Insurance increase.

2. We will implement an emergency Budget within 50 days to get rid of most of Labour's budget deficit - the largest racked up by any government in peacetime.

3. We will give parents the opportunity to take over and run schools themselves. Not an 'abdication of responsibility', which is what Labour's Parliamentary Candidate thinks, but a policy to give power and control back to ordinary people, which has to be better than Labour's centralised state targets.

4. We will allow everyone to choose any healthcare provider they want that meets NHS standards and prices.

5. We will get rid of mixed-sex wards, unlike Labour who pretended to.

6. We will give Birmingham City Council the right to shut places that sell alcohol to underage teenagers.

7. We will implement a points system and a ceiling on non-EU economic migrants to the UK. Labour's policy has no ceiling.

8. We will cut the number of MPs by 10%. (Yes, the Tories do cut some things!)

9. We will reintroduce the link between earnings and the basic state pension.

10. We will start building the high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham immediately.

And here's one that might have passed you by - we will substantially reduce the amount of government advertising and use the money saved to keep your Council Tax down. Has anyone else noticed the sheer number of government adverts at the moment? I was listening to the radio the other day and virtually every advert in every break was a government one of one form or another.

So there you have it. Vote for change - vote Conservative.

Bring it on!

Five more years of Gordon Brown or real change under David Cameron. That's the choice facing each and every voter on Thursday 6th May.

David Cameron's first visit of the campaign was to the QE Hospital in Edgbaston Constituency, which includes my own ward of Quinton. Not only does this show our leader's commitment to the NHS, but also to the people of Birmingham.

This is at least the second time that David Cameron has launched a campaign in Birmingham. I was there when he started his successful bid for leadership of the Party in 2005. Since then, the Conservatives have retaken the centre ground of British politics, and once again we're ready for government.

I'm looking forward to the campaign ahead. Bring it on!