Birmingham Live Hustings: Difficult Questions, Unclear Answers

Last week Birmingham Live hosted a hustings with candidates from across the political spectrum – Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Reform, Greens, and Independents.

BRIG was invited to put a question to the panel. We chose to focus on something many people across the city are seeing and feeling:

Over the last 3 years the city has witnessed a record rise in racist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, anti-black and anti-asylum hate crimes. How would you unite the city, improve community cohesion and celebrate it as a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Global minority majority City? 

Almost everyone began in the same place. 

“Birmingham’s diversity is our strength.”

But beyond the question didn’t get a clear answer.

There was no clear response to the rise in hate crimes. And no shared view on what it would take to improve community cohesion or unite the city.

For some candidates, flags were presented as a way to bring people together as a visible expression of pride, identity and belonging.

For others, those same flags told a different story. Not of unity, but of exclusion, particularly when they appear in some neighbourhoods and not others, or when they are associated with groups that have actively deepened division.

The discussion exposed just how differently “unity” is understood in the city.

·      Is it about systems working better? For example through improved co-ordination between the council, police and government?

·      Is it about who gets a seat at the table, and having representation that reflects the city’s diversity?

·      Is it about shared identity?

·      Or is it about calling out the things that divide us, even when that’s uncomfortable?

If you were in the room, one thing was clear.

There was no agreed plan.

What we heard was a set of beliefs about what kind of City Birmingham is and could become.

 What we didn’t hear clearly was:

What will actually change – and how will we know?

As the city heads towards the polls, that question still hangs in the air.

To watch the full hustings, click here.