The Liberal Democrats have issued a final appeal to Birmingham voters ahead of the city council elections on Thursday, May 7, with leader Roger Harmer emphasising a commitment to safety and cleanliness.
The party is fielding 101 candidates across the city and aims to secure 51 seats for a majority, or at least become the largest party to hold sway in potential coalition talks. They face competition from the Conservatives, Green Party, Labour, and Reform UK, each running a full slate, alongside 27 Workers' Party candidates, seven Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates, five Your Party candidates, and over 70 independents.
Harmer, a councillor in Acocks Green for over two decades and an active volunteer in community groups, penned the following message to voters:
Liberal Democrats for a Cleaner, Safer City, where Residents are Heard
"Birmingham will become a cleaner, safer city, where anti-social behaviour is no longer tolerated, if the Liberal Democrats succeed in the city council elections on 7th May."
"The voice of residents will be properly listened to and their problems taken seriously, if we are given the opportunity to lead the council."
Harmer criticised the current Labour administration, stating: "It is already clear that Labour will be hammered in the local elections, after taking the city into bankruptcy, failing to end the year-long bin strike and leaving the city without a functioning IT system for more than four years. This has led to huge rises in council tax - 24% over three years - the sale of hundreds of millions of pounds worth of assets and drastic cuts to services, while our city has become filthy and our roads full of potholes."
With national support for both Labour and the Conservatives declining, the Liberal Democrats aim to be the strongest party in a new progressive coalition that prioritises the city. Harmer outlined key failures, including the Athletes’ Village that never hosted athletes and will cost the council hundreds of millions, and the lack of a functioning procurement and contract management system.
"Putting it right means recasting the priorities of the council to those of residents. Speak to them and it’s pretty clear what they are," he said.
Clean up the city
"First of all, we’ve got to clean up the city, which is in a shockingly dirty state. That obviously involves ending the bin strike but, beyond that, a radical reform of street cleansing and waste services."
Tackle crime and anti social behaviour
"Secondly, it’s about tackling anti-social behaviour. There is sadly now a culture in our city of not following the rules, whether that’s speeding and dangerous driving, not bothering with planning applications, or fly-tipping and throwing litter out of the window of your car when you’ve finished your takeaway. We have to get back to a situation where the rules are followed, and people know that if they break them there will be consequences. As part of this, we need to regulate HMOs more firmly and stop their recent explosive growth across the city, damaging communities."
Listen to residents by devolving some decisions to neighbourhoods
"The third priority is having a council that actively listens to its residents, that consults properly and meaningfully. That means devolving decision making as far as possible down to communities, and actively engaging people, so they see it as their council, delivering services locally, not a body in the centre of Birmingham that does things to them."
Harmer also detailed key pledges, including renewing roads to tackle the pothole epidemic, protecting community libraries and ensuring they are open when needed, bringing back free bulky waste collections to help clean up the city, and freezing certain council charges such as burial fees to combat the cost-of-living crisis.
