Delivering a simple message: we stand with Ukraine
 

Above: Meeting key members of the Ukrainian Government.

This week, in my role as Shadow Foreign Secretary, I visited Ukraine.

The visit was to enable us to emphasise the total unity of the British government and the opposition with Ukraine in their fight against Russia’s illegal invasion, the murder of their citizens and destruction of their infrastructure.

In a meeting with their Foreign Minister, we talked about British help - under both the last and current government and the determination to stand by Ukraine until the Russians are expelled.

I also met members of the Ukrainian Parliament and the all-party group for UK-Ukraine and the Deputy Speaker of their Parliament.
 

I visited the church at Bucha (above) and the site of massacres when the Russians first invaded, to lay a wreath on behalf of the British opposition, and the people of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield.

I also visited the Centre for Victims and Witnesses - a justice programme partly funded by Britain

I also had meetings in the Presidency, where I talked about the support the British people are showing for Ukrainian refugees including in the Royal Town.

I told them how 11-year-old Ukrainian Melisa Kogut and her family – mother Nataly, brother Akim and grandma Galina – found shelter with Sutton Coldfield residents, and how Melisa sang the Ukrainian national anthem in a moving concert at Wylde Green’s Emmanuel Church (pictured above). Sutton Coldfield continues to play its part in supporting the people of Ukraine.

I also visited the Maidan square (above) where protests led to students being shot – sparking an uprising of more than a million people asserting their right to freedom. Today, as I saw, it is a shrine to the fallen.

I came to deliver a simple message: all parties across our Parliament stand firmly with Ukraine. Their fight is our fight because if Putin succeeds, he will not stop there.

In spite of the horrors they have suffered, which I saw starkly demonstrated, the determination of all Ukraine to defeat Russia’s war machine never falters.

This is a country that proactively plans for a future where Russian aggression is a thing of the past.

The UK will stand behind Ukraine until that moment of freedom comes.

Free parking in town centre in run-up to Christmas – and free bus travel and cycling too

Above: Free parking will be available in Sutton Town Centre in the run-up to Christmas.

I’m delighted to reveal that shoppers heading to Sutton Coldfield Town Centre this Christmas will be able to benefit from free car parking, free public transport and free cycling.

It’s all thanks to a forward-thinking project agreed by Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council and Birmingham City Council, after sterling work by Sutton council leader Cllr Simon Ward.

The ambitious ‘Multi Modal Travel Subsidy Scheme’ aims to boost visitor numbers and support local traders during their busiest time of the year.

For those who need to drive into the town centre, the Town Council is to subsidise free parking across seven town centre car parks, for the eight-week period from November 14th, 2024 to January 5th, 2025.

The offer will focus on car parks in Station Street, Upper and Lower Reddicroft, Mill Street, Anchorage Road, South Parade and Duke Street.

It will run from November 14th, to coincide with Sutton’s Christmas lights switch on, through to January 5th 2025, on Thursdays from 4pm and Fridays from 4pm, with parking free all day on Saturdays and Sundays.

However, the festive scheme will also aim to enable more drivers to travel by bus, by promoting the Passenger Incentive Programme offered by TfWM (Travel for the West Midlands). It means shoppers heading to Sutton Town centre will be able to use some of the 750,000 free bus tickets being offered across the region by the scheme.

To access the free tickets, residents will need to sign up to the Town Council mailing list by 10am on Friday, November 8th, when more details will be provided.  Residents can do this via Subscribe on the homepage of the Town Council’s Website - https://suttoncoldfieldtowncouncil.gov.uk

Finally, the third strand of the Multi Modal Travel Scheme offers free cycling in the town centre as part of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s public hire cycle scheme, for which Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council already provides a funding contribution.

Councillor Simon Ward, leader of Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council, said: “We are fully committed to creating a revitalised and vibrant town centre for Royal Sutton Coldfield, through our Town Centre Master Plan.

“However, while these bigger plans take shape, it’s really important that we support local businesses and traders – and there’s no more important time of year for them than Christmas.

“The festive season is a crucially important time of year for local businesses and traders, both in the daytime and night time economy.

“Along with ideas like the new German-style Christmas Market, this ambitious three-part travel scheme will make it cheaper and easier than ever before to travel into the town centre to enjoy the festive season, take in the festive lights, shop and relax.

“By including free bus travel and cycle hire, we’re also sending an important ecological message that, while some journeys have to be made by car, we also want to help enable people to choose more sustainable ways of coming to enjoy the festive season in Sutton.

“This is a really ambitious programme that should really boost visitors to Sutton this Christmas, and we welcome the support of Birmingham City Council in making it happen.”

Sutton declared among the UK’s ‘most leafy’ places to live

Above: Sutton Park was one of the key factors that impressed journalists.

The Royal Town hit the headlines this week when it was declared one of the best places to live in the West Midlands by lifestyle magazine Muddy Stilettos.

The online magazine praised Sutton for its 'Buzzy independent' restaurants, ample shopping, parks and outstanding schools - which it said were ‘all just a 20-minute drive from Birmingham city centre’.

It also described the Royal Town as one of the ‘leafiest places to live in the UK’, saying: “more than half of the town’s total land area is green – the other half is littered with Premiership footballers’ swanky cars!”

Sutton regularly appears in articles like this – which handily remind everyone else what we already know… there’s nowhere else quite like Sutton Coldfield.

To read the full article, click here: https://warks.muddystilettos.co.uk/best-places-to-live/sutton-coldfield-2/

Government commissioners say it clear – BCC leadership is to blame for Birmingham’s bankruptcy

Above: A damning report by Government commissioners lays the blame for Birmingham’s financial crisis squarely with the city’s leadership.

Government Commissioners have now published their first formal report into bankrupt Birmingham City Council (BCC) – and it makes shocking reading.

Crucially, the report is clear on where blame lies for the crisis – which has seen residents hit with a double whammy of higher taxes for fewer services – stating that “The state that BCC finds itself in is of its own making. All local authorities in the country are facing financial challenges but that does not explain or excuse Birmingham’s failure.”

In a lengthy report, highlighting the breadth and depth of the failure, commissioners point to long-standing issues with leadership and governance which, despite repeated warnings dating back to the Lord Kerslake report a decade earlier, the Council has refused to address.

In their opening remarks, the Commissioners state that when they arrived in Birmingham, 6 months after the appointment of the new Council Leader John Cotton, the council “had neither begun the process of addressing these problems in a serious way or even properly acknowledged them.”

Along with concerns about a lack of urgency, members not taking an interest in the report they were presenting for decisions, and a lack of clarity on members’ interests and influence (including trade union relationships and sponsorship), the Commissioners point to a number of areas of weakness across the council, including siloed working, an over-reliance on agency and interims, and weak governance of procurement activity.

All of these are areas Conservatives have been calling for improvements in for a number of years, to drive out efficiency savings that could have avoided some of the worst of the cuts we are now seeing.

Sutton Roughley Cllr Ewan Mackey, Deputy Leader of Birmingham Local Conservatives said: “It’s damning that the political leadership has been squarely and unavoidably pointed at in this report as a direct cause of Birmingham’s fundamental problems.

“Birmingham City Council needs rapid modernisation to deliver the services that residents deserve.

“We put forward plans in our alternative budget which would have delivered this change but – as the commissioners note – the BCC Administration refused to acknowledge the scale of the problem.

“This BCC Administration has overseen a collapse of the Council’s finances, a Council Housing crisis, the number of Council Houses meeting decent homes standard has collapsed from 99% in 2012 to 31% now, which has destroyed the health of many families, and the butchering of the Oracle system which effectively blinded the Council.”

Still time to get tickets to hear former Chancellor at annual dinner

The countdown continues to this year’s Conservative Association annual dinner in Sutton Coldfield – and there is still time to buy tickets to hear our brilliant guest of honour!

Each year, this proves to be a spectacular evening of political insights, friendship, fun and excellent food!

Our speaker this year is a highly distinguished parliamentarian and an experienced Cabinet Minister - former Chancellor of Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt, Member of Parliament for Godalming and Ash.

The black-tie dinner will be held at New Hall Hotel and Spa, on Friday 15th November.

Tickets cost £55 and are available from Jack Annett at jack.Annett@conservatives.com

You can find full details in the ‘further information’ section at the end of this message.

BMOS to bring Broadway and the West End to Trinity Church

Above: BMOS, seen here performing Guys and Dolls, are among the oldest musical societies in the region.

Sutton’s oldest church will be filled with the sound of Broadway classics next month, when one of the region’s longest-established musical societies stages a special concert.

On November 23rd, BMOS Musical Theatre Company will appear at Holy Trinity Parish Church in a show starting at 7.30pm.

Promising to be a ‘whirlwind tour of music from the best of London's West End and New York's Broadway musicals’, this one-off concert will showcase a wonderful selection of songs from Tony Award-winning shows across the decades: from South Pacific to A Chorus Line, from Hamilton to Hello Dolly!

Founded in 1886, BMOS has entertained tens of thousands of Midlanders during its 138-year history and enjoys a headline show at Birmingham’s New Alexandra Theatre every year – “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” being their latest triumph in June 2024.

Tickets are now available securely online via the link below or in person from the Trinity Centre (B72 1TF) during normal working hours.

For details, see the ‘further information’ section at the end io this message.

https://www.htsc.org.uk/whats-on-and-groups/season-2024-25/

Read all about Sutton’s brilliant charitable groups

Above: The Royal Sutton Coldfield Charity News is being delivered this week.

This week, all across Sutton Coldfield, a remarkable one-off newspaper has been landing on local doormats.

Around 40,000 copies of the Royal Sutton Coldfield Charity News are being delivered to local homes, in a project funded by Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust.

The idea is to provide local charitable, voluntary and community groups with the kind of valuable news coverage they once enjoyed in our much-missed local newspapers.

So, the 16-page newspaper is packed full of local groups – in fact, it really highlights just how lucky we are in Sutton Coldfield to have so many volunteers who give up their time to make local life that little bit better.

It also brilliantly highlights the work of Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust, which has supported local people for centuries and now gives out annual grants of around £1.5 million.

This year the Trust has helped fund everything from the rebuilt boardwalk in New Hall Valley to the recent Heritage Week, which was enjoyed by thousands of people.

The newspaper explains how to go about applying for a grant– and also reveals how festive grants can be applied for by residents of all faiths, beliefs and cultural backgrounds.

Watch out for your copy!

Speaking on international panel

This week in parliament, I participated in a panel at the Institute for Government with Sir Mark Lowcock, former Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development (DfID), and Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Select Committee.

I shared insights on what DfID was like when I began as Secretary of State, outlined my priorities for the department during my tenure, and discussed what actions the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office(FCDO) now needs to take to lead effectively on the global stage in international development.

You can watch the full panel here: https://www.youtube.com/live/7BG-Vx4ng5o?si=U0Wo7zPDI3Sc31-_

Questions over St Helena deal

Following the Government’s agreement with Mauritius to handover sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), I questioned the Minister for the Overseas Territories on the new deal with the Government of St Helena to house any migrants arriving in BIOT in the interim period.

You can watch/read my full question and the Ministers response here: St Helena: UK Immigration | Andrew Mitchell (andrew-mitchell-mp.co.uk)

Dangers of disinformation

I questioned the Government on the situation in the Middle East and on efforts to combat the weaponising of disinformation.

You can watch/read my full question and the Ministers response here: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Questions | Andrew Mitchell(andrew-mitchell-mp.co.uk)

Upcoming Visit Royal Sutton Coldfield BID events

OCTOBER

• Sunday 27th October - 10am-3pm – Farmers & Craft Market

• Halloween event TBC

NOVEMBER

• Sunday 17th November – Vegan Market

• Sunday 24th November - 10am-3pm – Farmers & Craft Market

• Christmas events TBC

Get involved with UK Parliament Week this November

Over 2,000 organisations all over the country have already signed up for this year’s UK Parliament Week (18-24 November).

Join in to explore UK Parliament. Find out what happens at Parliament and learn how your group can get involved. 

Sign up today to get your free kit!

https://www.ukparliamentweek.org/en/sign-up/?utm_campaign=0524-mar-ee-ukpw24-signup&utm_medium=email&utm_source=yourukparliamentb2c

Breast Friends, Make Up Workshops

SC Cancer Support Centre - Black Tie Charity Ball

100 years of Highbury Players

As your MP I am here to help. If you feel I can assist with any concerns, please do not hesitate to get in contact by emailing me on andrew.mitchell.mp@parliament.uk