Local Election Hustings – 2026

We’re back with a hustings report. It’s no exaggeration to say that this is likely to be one of the most consequential Council elections that Birmingham has seen in over 20 years. As a result, you’d expect no holding back as candidates play for what is the highest-stakes game in local government, control of one of the largest local authorities in Europe. If this is what you are expecting, please manage your disappointment now.

We gathered at the The Shires “Luxury” retirement home. A shining monument to private equity’s desire to feast on the property wealth of a gullible post-war generation, who are going to be very surprised when they sell their flats to pay for their own care. A cleverer person would be able to make a connection with Birmingham’s perilous political situation.

In surprise hustings news, we had a new Chair this year. Jane (I don’t know who Jane is). No more David Isgrove, no more questions from the Chair, just solid chairing.

As is the custom, the candidates began with their opening statements. Because we have this stupid system where we elect two candidates now, it means the Green Party, Labour and Lib Dems each put up two people for the hustings. Other parties couldn’t be bothered, and, in many ways, I thank them.

Ayyub Ali – Green – We all remember the days when the Green candidate either didn’t turn up or turned up late with an elaborate excuse about traffic. Not this year. Both candidates were bang on time. Ayyub lives in Stirchley, is a Domestic Abuse worker and wants to crack down on private spending in the Council.

He’s not mucking about with reasons why we should vote for him, and does not need 90 seconds to make his case.

Gwaza Mabhena – Labour – Gwaza has lived in Birmingham since he was 13. He trained with Moseley Rugby Club and does youth work with his church. He has heard that people are now coming to Moseley because we have a train.

There we go 7:22 pm, and the first mention of the train. We started at 7:15 pm, so this isn’t as tardy as other years. At this point, you could see the sad look in the candidates’ eyes as they realised this is the first hustings in twenty-five years where they couldn’t promise us a train.

Izzy Knowles – Lib Dems – Izzy made a nice tribute to Kerry Jenkins, our Councillor, who sadly passed away last year. Izzy also gave us a detailed list of things she has done for us over the last 4 years. It was extensive. Much of it is a result of services being cut and all that.

Oliver Ollie Ashton  – Green – Oliver thinks we should call him Ollie (Olly?), I’m fine with that.  Ollie is fed up with “Rip off Britain” and “Rip off Birmingham” – he didn’t explain what this means. He thinks a better Birmingham can exist, and he wants climate change that cuts bills. It wasn’t clear if he was advocating for climate change or if it was just the type of climate change.

Philip Mills – Lib Dems – Philip has been our Councillor since last year and has noticed that it takes time to “get into” the Council and Moseley. He wants to bring services closer to us.

Stephen Pihlaja – Labour – Stephen also paid tribute to Kerry. He has been doing a lot of door-knocking, and people have been telling him what concerns them. He’s worked in community organising for ten years and wants to bring everyone together.

Does The Shires Luxury Retirement Home have a room big enough for us all to come together?

Then we had questions. We had a lot of questions. We had twenty-one questions. Mercifully answered by one representative from each party, but it was a lot.

Most of the questions were along the lines of “As a Councillor, what would you do to change this thing that isn’t really anything to do with the Council?” So, I’m going to be selective, and I’m going to paraphrase.

Question – What is the most important problem for the Council?

Philip (LD) told us that Labour have bankrupted the Council twice in the last 20 years, and it comes down to the failed IT system.

I’ve tried and I cannot recall the other time Labour bankrupted the Council. Does anyone have any idea what he is talking about?

Oliver Ollie (G) said the biggest problem is Labour. Zinger. He posed the question, “Without Labour, would the Council be bankrupt?” He also said that part of the problem is that the Council makes tough decisions about the most vulnerable and never about the areas with the most money.

We all looked a little guilty, realising that we are the “areas with the most money”.

Gwaza (L) told us housing is a problem, and young people can’t afford houses.

Question – How will we settle the bin strike? Plus, how will you clean up the city?

Ayyub (G) told us there was no magic solution. There should be more negotiation with the Union. To clean the city, we need more bins, and we need to do more litter picking.

Stephen (L) suggested that we need rubbish collections to go back to how they used to be. Which isn’t exactly a high bar. He also made the point that people keep talking about the Council’s need to be financially responsible, but we also need to meet the bin people’s demands.

Izzy (LD) actually gave a more positive interpretation of the current state of negotiations than I’d heard before. We all assume the strike is still going on, so the union can give Labour a kicking in this election, don’t we? I’m asking that, not Izzy.

As for cleaning up the city, she is literally out there every weekend picking up all the litter.

Question – The current lease on Billesley Lane Allotments ends in 2030, how will you work to make sure the golf club extend it?

This is a proper hustings question. In a hustings, you either go super macro (How do we stop robots killing us all? – 2024) or super local. These are the best questions.

Izzy (LD) revealed that her husband is/was the captain of the golf club, but she is more sympathetic to the allotments. Oooh, that’s gonna be awkward later. She thinks there should be dialogue between the two, but both are nature-enhancing.

We all remember back in 2016 when the golf club were shooting all those foxes. I’m not sure how nature-enhancing that was.

Ayyub (G) has an allotment himself and would put pressure on the council to buy the land outright.

One can only imagine quite how expensive a big chunk of developable land in the centre of Moseley would be worth.

Stephen (L) also likes allotments and wants to make sure that city land is used for the benefit of the community. Which wasn’t the question, but interesting to note.

Question – Do you support the LTN that is in place and the additional proposed phase?

This is what we all came for.

Stephen (L) has heard about the LTN every day. He didn’t say whether he supported it. As the Labour Party candidate, he thinks it was badly implemented by the Labour Party, and he thinks we should have another consultation.

I don’t know. The last six consultations didn’t really get us anywhere, but maybe the seventh is the way to go.

Izzy (LD) supported phase one and supports phase two. She has been to every community event and has stood on street corners counting cars. She thinks phase one wasn’t ideal, but it has worked. In a rare display of engagement from the audience, people clapped.

Ayyub (G) told us that the Green Party opposes the LTN.

Classic. Straight out of the early 2000s Lib Dem election playbook. The Green party opposing the only tangible green policy a Councillor has any impact on is just the bold decision-making we’re looking for. But fair play, there are votes in opposing the LTN, and why should they all go to Reform?

Question – How many public toilets are there in Moseley?

This was a question from Jane. Jane, the CHAIR. Oh Jane, you were our great hope for an objective future.

Gwaza (L) didn’t know how many public toilets there are in Mosely

Philip (LD) knew there aren’t any.

Oliver Ollie (G) would have guessed zero. We could have all said that.

Question – What would you do to make sure the Council removes THE flags?

Philip (LD) noted that Izzy was out there challenging the people putting up flags, and the people doing it aren’t nice (understatement).

Ayyub (G) said the flags are a symptom of a broken society, and rather than dealing with the flags, he would focus on community cohesion.

Which is fine, but the people doing it live in Bromsgrove.

Stephen (L) told us the process to get the Council to take the flags down is complex. But it was amazing to see the Moseley community taking flags down.

I’m going to guess the point of the question was how a Councillor would reduce that complexity.

There were other questions, but life is short.

Then we were at closing statements.

Stephen (L) – Thanked us for coming and told us to look at the panel and think about who in this group of people would be the best advocate.

I don’t think that’s likely to elicit the response he wants.

Philip (LD) – Do we want four more years of the same?

Looking back over the last four years, I’d suggest that is not a question to ask people.

Oliver Ollie(G) – Had a lot of fun doing this and appreciated the difference of opinion (there had been no difference of opinion). He noted that Birmingham is divided – especially in Northfield.

Which was quite a bombshell to end on.

Izzy (LD) – Izzy hopes she has proved that her heart is in Moseley. She said it’s obvious that Labour will lose this election, and more Lib Dems in the Council chamber will bring stability.

We truly are in the end times.

Gwaza (L) – Told us that being a Councillor is more than just litter picking like the Lib Dems and that he will stop vape shops opening in Moseley and sort out the traffic lights.

Maybe he should have started with that bit.,

Ayyub (G) – He has overwhelming hope coming into this election, and if we want warm homes and safer streets – vote for him.

There you go. See you in four years.