Cllr Martin Brooks

Great to team up with Harborne campaigner @James4Harborne as Harborne Independents. James led a magnificent campaign against the closure of Harborne Day Centre. Although that battle has sadly been lost, let’s work together to save Harborne Library and the Kenrick Centre locally.

This breaks my heart. An ongoing human rights outrage, happening in plain sight, where women and girls are being treated worse than domestic pets. More has to be done to help these women.

This is an excellent, strong statement. So why isn’t the UK putting more sanctions on Israel, suspending defense, intelligence and security cooperation?

I will never vote Labour again. Not in my lifetime. I will never forget the skeletal faces of starving children—cut off from food just beyond a sealed border. A border kept closed by choice. I will never forget the silence bought by political donations—or blind loyalty that bind…

Do all Birmingham MP's get a cultural venue gutted by property developers as a welcome gift or is it just pot luck who's catches fire? @PreetKGillMP - Harborne Royalty Cinema @ShabanaMahmood - The Electric Cinema @TahirAliMP - Kingsway Cinema Kings Heath birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-…

Thanks to @James4Harborne and other carers’ families for bringing this case. An unelected Government Commissioner brought in because of @BrumLabour failings, overrode the democratic scrutiny process of @BhamCityCouncil and ha left the city in a worse state than when he arrived.

I would never be so bold as to claim to speak for 1.14m people but on this occasion I think I can confidently speak for all of us where I say good riddance and why has it taken so long? birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-…

So @PreetKGillMP believes that the Commissioners are working on the “long-term transformation Birmingham needs” in her own constituency this has included the closure of a day centre for vulnerable adults, library cuts and closures and a proposal to close an elderly care home.

Very telling that one of Caller’s last acts as Commissioner at @BhamCityCouncil was in court defending his over-riding of the Council’s scrutiny process regarding Day Centre closures. He leaves our city in a worse state of governance than he found it. birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-…

Good riddance. Gove’s 🪓man commissioner Max Caller asset stripped @bhamcitycouncil, slashed public services & imposed austerity 2.0 on Brum. He ignored alternatives to cuts & slagged off critics as ‘financially illiterate’. ⁦@UKLabour⁩ backed him. birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-…

Big thank you @James4Harborne for seeing off Gove’s Max 🪓 Caller. Caller & @BhamCityCouncil ‘won’ in court yday on a narrow technicality but James won the public argument regarding local democracy, forcing Caller into the spotlight. Well done. @martinibrooks @JaneRockHouse

Good that Birmingham City Councillors have the Birmingham Mail to inform us that the Government’s Lead Commissioner at @BhamCityCouncil has resigned and been replaced. @joanneroney @JaneRockHouse @Bobby_Alden @rogerbhx birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-…

Although the judge ruled against our application for extension of time, we put up a very good fight against the largest local authority in Europe and the unelected, government commissioners. We will keep standing up for our most vulnerable citizens of Birmingham.

Reminiscent of the 1990s when the then UK foreign secretary Douglas Hurd insisted on maintaining the arms embargo in Bosnia, as the embryonic Bosnian army was forced into self defence against the 4th largest army in Europe, expropriated by Milosevic. The result was genocide.

Councillors need to stand up for the city and call for the the commissioner’s replacement. The job entails knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing. His interventions will save pennies now and cost us millions done the line.

The Pope condemns Gaza war’s ‘barbarity’ as 93 reported killed by Israeli fire while waiting for food. theguardian.com/world/2025/jul…

“A more strategic approach to identifying increased demand on service provision, including education, will now be required.” That’s kind of what local authorities exist to do, and @BhamCityCouncil’s failure on this is deeply troubling. @AlexanderJBrock birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-…

“No ‘golden handshake’ for departing Chief Executive.” (March 2024) Now we learn that despite resigning from the post she was 'compensated for loss of office' to the tune of £130,194. birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-…

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be but we gave it our best shot! We’ll keep challenging cuts to vital public services especially those for our must vulnerable citizens.

This is horrifying.

Significant court case today challenging the power of Government Commissioners to override the democratic scrutiny processes of @BhamCityCouncil