West Midlands NO! Campaign

Why does the Birmingham Post insist on misleading its readership over the City Region?

Almost every reference to the City Region claims that some spokesman is an elected member of the City Region, giving the impression that it isn’t an unelected, undemocratic quango.

Take this latest article, for example:

Glyn Pitchford, elected West Midlands Business Council business representative on the City Region board

Glyn Pitchford wasn’t elected to the City Region board, he was appointed to his position of power by his peers in the same way as other, more famous dictators such as Colonel Gaddafi of Libya and Frank Bainimarama of Fiji.  Pitchford’s appointment to the City Region board has no more democratic legitimacy than the appointment of ny number of dictators appointed to their position by their peers whilst the population is denied the opportunity to vote them in or out of power.

The report in the article doesn’t even have a point.  The city region has commissioned a report on so-called super-fast broadband but BT already has a commitment to rolling out its 21st Century network across the country.  Surely it would have been cheaper to ask BT to give them a copy of their roll-out schedule and the sales pitch?

The article finishes off saying:

The West Midlands Business Council marks the first time in the UK that independent business representative organisations have joined to speak with one voice on regional business issues.

This is, of course, absolute tosh.  The entire regional quangocracy is about run by and for business and always has been.  Advantage West Midlands, West Midlands Regional Assembly, West Midlands Business Link - they are regional business quangos whose primary aim is to give big business the opportunity to be part of what is, in all but name, the West Midlands regional government.

So why are the Birmingham Post so keen to promote the City Region and Glyn Pitchford in particular?  Could it be the fact that Glyn Pitchford shares the Birmingham Post’s vision of a “Greater Birmingham” swallowing up the urban West Midlands?

Glyn Pitchford thought that the lead article in the Birmingham Post today was apposite – we should consider accepting Birmingham as the region’s capital, changing our name to Greater Birmingham City Region to be better placed to compete with other regions.

- Minutes of the City Region Board, September 2008

Possibly.  Or it may just be lazy journalism that we see so often in the provincial press that means reporters will faithfully reproduce whatever propaganda and dishonesty a quango sends them.  And that’s just what this “elected member” tag is - dishonest propaganda.  Every biography of Glyn Pitchford I can find has the same claim to being an elected member of the City Region board.