BIRMINGHAM can still have a bright
economic future despite the city being
hit by “challenging headlines”, a gov-
ernment minister has said, writes Alex-
ander Brock.
The city council faced financial crisis
and more recently the bins strike have
caused chaos.
Amid this backdrop, Darren Jones MP,
the government’s chief secretary to the
Treasury, spoke about Birmingham’s
prospects during a visit to the HS2 Cur-
zon Street Station last week.
The government has merged two bod-
ies into the National Infrastructure and
Service Transformation Authority (NIS-
TA) to speed up major projects, including
roads, railways, schools and hospitals.
“Birmingham has always been and al-
ways will be a really important city-re-
gion for us in the UK,” Jones said.
“As part of the West Midlands Com-
bined Authority, we want to make sure
that Birmingham is thriving, but also that
the Black Country is also able to take op-
portunities that come from that so we can
deliver great opportunities for people ir-
respective of where they live.”
He added: “We know we’ve got some
inherited challenges here with the city
council in particular, where the govern-
ment is partnering with them to get a grip
of the situation and set them up so they
can be successful in the future.
“But there is no question that Birming-
ham and the West Midlands will be a
crucial part of our national mission for
economic growth.”
Jones was asked whether he was wor-
ried that debacles such as the finan-
cial turmoil at the city council and the
bins strike chaos could harm Birming-
ham’s reputation and therefore discour-
age investors.
“These negative headlines are always
difficult for any place, which is why we
want to work with the city council to deal
with it as quickly as possible,” he said.
“But there is no question that the
strengths and assets that Birmingham,
and the broader West Midlands, has are
really important to us.
“As part of our national mission to try
and get the economy back on track, we
want to make sure that every region,
every place is supported to be able to
deliver that success for the country as a
whole but also for the local people.
“I appreciate the headlines are chal-
lenging right now, but we need to get a
grip of that and move on and then focus
on what we can do together to really drive
success here in Birmingham, the West
Midlands and across the country.”
Andy Street, former Mayor of the West
Midlands, also recently spoke out about
the city’s reputation, telling LBC: “Now
we have the association of the second city
of the UK with rats – there’s where the
reputation has gone.
“What I would say to people is we’ve got
to plan now for rebuilding that reputation
again because it’s taken a hammering.”
“That will take a bit of time, but we are
absolutely committed to it,” he said.
“We’ll have a Labour Mayor [in the West
Midlands] and a Labour government
working together to deliver that and I’m
very confident we’re going to be able to
do that well.”
He added, “We’ve been very clear we
want to get Britain building again and
HS2 has been building for a long time.
“They’ve been doing some great
things, but we also know the project has
lost control in terms of time and cost –
and that’s a real problem for us.
“So there’s going to be lots of lessons
that we can learn from the HS2 pro-
ject to apply to other big projects
across the country as we look to
build more houses, water infra-
structure, energy infrastructure
and more railways.”
Several issues have contributed
to Birmingham City Council’s finan-
cial crisis, including the equal pay
debacle, poor budget setting, de-
mand-led pressures, a failed new sys-
tem and funding cuts.
Meanwhile, plans to scrap the Waste
Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO)
role have sparked a dispute with
Unite the union, triggering
the bins strike.
Unite
national
lead officer Onay
Kasab previously
accused
the
council of forc-
ing
workers
onto pay lev-
els barely above the minimum wage for a
demanding job in all weathers.
But councillor Majid Mah-
mood, cabinet member
for environment, said
the council had made
a “fair and reasona-
ble offer”, adding:
“Not a single worker
needs to lose a pen-
ny. Every worker
has been offered the
same grade and pay
within
the
street
scene division. We are
trying to transform and
modernise the service.”
(Local Democracy Re
porting Service)
TWO more men have been found guilty
of murdering 23-year-old DPD delivery
driver, Aurman Singh, in Shrewsbury
nearly two years ago.
Mehakdeep Singh, 24, and Sehajpal
Singh, 26, both formerly of Tipton, were
convicted at Stafford crown court last
Monday (31) following a three-week trial.
According to the police, an attack on
Singh occurred in broad daylight on Au-
gust 21, 2023, as he made deliveries in
Berwick Avenue in Coton Hill area. He
was brutally assaulted, with multiple
weapons including an axe, golf club and
piece of wood, suffering fatal injuries.
Gang members tracked Aurman on
his delivery route before launching their
calculated attack, the court heard. After
committing the murder, both men fled
in a white Mercedes Benz, which they
later abandoned on Kynaston Road in
Shrewsbury.
The fleeing suspects then called a taxi
to Shrewsbury Railway Station before
taking a train to Wolverhampton. Days
later, they left the country, evading au-
thorities until their capture nearly nine
months after the murder.
An investigation by West Mercia Po-
lice led them to Austria, where both
men were arrested on May 20, 2024, at
an address in Hohenzell. Following ex-
tradition, they stood trial and now await
sentencing scheduled for Friday (11) at
Stafford Crown Court.
Detective chief inspector Mark Bella-
my, who led investigation, said, “The at-
tack on Aurman almost two years ago
was violent and calculated. Sehjapal
and Mekahdeep, along with six other
men carried out this attack in broad
daylight on a quiet Shropshire street
with only one intention – to kill him.”
He added: “They used inside infor-
mation to get hold of Aurman’s delivery
route, where they lay in wait for him, be-
fore using an arsenal of weapons against
him knowing he was defenceless.”
The investigation involved police
forces across multiple countries.
The latest convictions bring the total
number of people found guilty in con-
nection with murder to seven.
Previous convictions last year saw
four men – Arshdeep Singh, Jagdeep
Singh, Shivdeep Singh and Manjot
Singh – each sentenced to 28 years’ im-
prisonment for murder.
A fifth man, Sukhmandeep Singh, de-
scribed as “inside man” who supplied
the victim’s delivery route information
to attackers, received a 10-year sentence
after being convicted of manslaughter
rather than murder.
Prosecutors said during the trial that
the precise motive behind fatal attack
remains unclear.
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April 11, 2025 • Twitter.com/easterneye
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Two more convicted of delivery driver’s brutal murder
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Aurman
Singh
Mehakdeep
Singh
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Singh
LONDON mayor Sadiq Khan
will get more powers to cut red
tape that is “stifling” pubs,
clubs and restaurants and
holding back the UK capital’s
flagging night-time economy,
the government announced
last Friday (4).
Khan will be granted new
“call in” powers to review deci-
sions of local councils that
block late-drinking licences in
nightlife hotspots. If successful,
other mayors across England
could receive similar powers in
a bid to revive the country’s £62
billion hospitality sector, which
was struggling even before the
coronavirus pandemic hit.
Businesses have complained
that the current licensing sys-
tem creates barriers to growth
and investment, making it diffi-
cult to obtain extended licens-
ing hours for late-night drink-
ing and overcome objections
from other firms.
“I am delighted that the gov-
ernment is looking to grant
London greater powers over li-
censing,” said Khan.
“This significant decision
would allow us to do more to
support the capital’s pubs,
clubs and music venues.”
A pilot will also be launched
to encourage more outdoor
dining, said the government.
Deputy prime minister Ange-
la Rayner said the government
was determined to overcome
the “blockers” as it aims to
boost a nighttime economy that
“has been neglected for long”.
“Our pubs, restaurants and
live music venues are the beat-
ing heart of our cultural life, so
it is vital they are given every
chance to survive and thrive,”
she said.
“Too often, we have seen the
complaints of a vocal minority
of objectors promoted over the
need for our country to grow –
we are determined to change
this,” she added.
The pandemic dealt a se-
vere blow to a hospitality sec-
tor, which employs three mil-
lion people.
Mayor to get new powers to revive London nightlife
POWERING PROGRESS:
Darren Jones; and
(below) Birmingham is
facing a bins strike,
causing rubbish to pile
up on the city’s streets