Birmingham Hall Green
2010 Results:
Conservative: 7320 (15.02%)
Labour: 16039 (32.92%)
Liberal Democrat: 11988 (24.6%)
UKIP: 950 (1.95%)
Independent: 190 (0.39%)
Respect: 12240 (25.12%)
Majority: 3799 (7.8%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 16799 (38%)
Liberal Democrat: 12608 (28.5%)
Conservative: 7892 (17.8%)
Other: 6931 (15.7%)
Majority: 4191 (9.5%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 10590 (30.7%)
Labour: 16304 (47.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 6682 (19.3%)
UKIP: 960 (2.8%)
Majority: 5714 (16.5%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 11401 (34.5%)
Labour: 18049 (54.6%)
Liberal Democrat: 2926 (8.8%)
UKIP: 708 (2.1%)
Majority: 6648 (20.1%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 13952 (33.4%)
Labour: 22372 (53.5%)
Liberal Democrat: 4034 (9.6%)
Referendum: 1461 (3.5%)
Majority: 8420 (20.1%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Roger Godsiff (Labour) born 1946, London. Educated at Catford Comprehensive School. Former bank clerk and trade union official. Lewisham councillor 1971-1990. Contested Birmingham Yardley 1983. First elected as MP for Birmingham Small Heath 1992. MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath since 1997.
Jo Barker (Conservative) Born 1968, Banbury. Educated at Liverpool University. Managing Director of family property business.Roger Godsiff (Labour) born 1946, London. Educated at Catford Comprehensive School. Former bank clerk and trade union official. Lewisham councillor 1971-1990. Contested Birmingham Yardley 1983. First elected as MP for Birmingham Small Heath 1992. MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath since 1997.
Jerry Evans (Liberal Democrat) Self employed archaelogical consultant. Birmingham councillor. 
Alan Blumenthal (UKIP)
Salma Yaqoob (Respect) Born 1971, Bradford. Birmingham councillor. Contested Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath 2005.Andrew Gardner (Independent)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 108908
Male: 49.2%
Female: 50.8%
Under 18: 29.9%
Over 60: 15.7%
Born outside UK: 28.3%
White: 47.2%
Black: 4.9%
Asian: 43.5%
Mixed: 3%
Other: 1.4%
Christian: 37.4%
Hindu: 4.2%
Muslim: 35.7%
Sikh: 3.9%
Full time students: 6.2%
Graduates 16-74: 22%
No Qualifications 16-74: 36.8%
Owner-Occupied: 62.1%
Social Housing: 21.6% (Council: 10.8%, Housing Ass.: 10.8%)
Privately Rented: 12.9%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 21.1%
Sorry I meant Springfield of course.
“Labour also expelled the former MP, now Lord Stobbart for supporting a Socialist Alliance candidate.”
Lord Stoddart that is (Baron Stoddart of Swindon). He still sits as an “independent Labour” peer. He backed the Socialist Alliance candidate in St Helens South against former Tory Director of Communications Shaun Woodward. He would not have switched many votes in St Helens ,where Stoddart would have been unknown and had not been an elected MP for nearly 20 years, so it was nothing like as significant as Lynne Jones who is a retiring MP for part of the constituency.
Indeed. Just stating a precedence where former MPs have been expelled for backing candidates of other parties.
Galloway is often cited in this regard but in fact he never supported candidates of another party while he was still a Labour MP. His heinous crime, for which he was expelled in 2003, was that he “congratulated” a Socialist Alliance Against the War council candidate on his victory, AFTER the election had happened.
Several Tory Peers, including deputy speaker Baroness Cox, were expelled from the party for supporting UKIP in the 2004 European elections. Obviously the further back you go in time the more examples there are….
Alan Blumenthal will contest this seat for UKIP
From the Yahoo news site:
Birmingham Hall Green: Respect accuse Labour of ‘contempt’
Politics.co.uk
By L J Shaughnessy
Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green Roger Godsiff was accused by Respect candidate Salma Yaqoob of ‘showing contempt’ for failing to attend a hustings last week in the constituency.
Along with Ms Yaqoob at the meeting were Jo Barker for the Conservatives and Jerry Evans for the Liberal Democrats, who faced a largely Muslim audience.
On Mr Godsiff’s absence, an organiser from the Balsall Heath Neighbourhood Forum said; “Quite what the reasons are, I don’t understand” to the sound of boos from the audience.
Mr Godsiff has held the seat of Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath since 1992 but his majority was heavily dented at the last general election by Ms Yaqoob, a local councillor.
Yaqoob alleged that Roger Godsiff’s policy in the general election is to miss any hustings which are not being broadcast.
Conservative candidate Jo Barker told the audience; “Thank you very much for the wonderful reception. I was talking to Roger earlier about how much fun this was going to be and, err, he was right.”
Following the meeting Barker blogged: “I had a good mauling tonight at a hustings – really enjoyed it and look forward to more.”
One prominent Labour activist in the audience, who asked not to be named, expressed disappointment at Mr Godsiff’s decision not to attend and said there had been many defections of Labour activists to Respect.
Speaking afterwards Salma Yaqoob told politics.co.uk; “Roger Godsiff’s absence epitomises his attitude to local people, he is not prepared to face residents directly. It shows contempt. You can always tell when the wind is changed when hard core activists start coming over from the other side.”
A spokesman for Mr Godsiff’s office explained his absence at the meeting: “Mr Godsiff no longer participates in ‘hustings meetings’ or ‘panel discussions’ where other candidates are invited because he has found, from experience over a number of elections, that these occasions are used by certain candidates as publicity stunts rather than discussions about the issues of concern to most people.”
LD gain maj 1000
That would surprise me, but not astonish me. I suspect Salma Yacoob will split the Muslim anti-Labour vote allowing Godsiff to win, personally.
Lab Hold
Maj 2100
Lab maj 1,000 (LD 2nd)
Martin Hepburn is standing here for the Christian Party according to yournextmp.com.
Roger Godsiff has been putting out some dodgy leaflets where they can’t even spell Salma Yaqoob’s name correctly which pretend she is fighting a council seat rather than a parlimentary one.
Retiring Birmingham Labour MP Lynne Jones is backing Respect over Labour in this seat. She is likely to be expelled and unlikely to care as she was one of the fe remaining real left wing Labour MPs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixUIUTQbHOA&feature=player_embedded
Labour’s leaflet campaign is becoming increasingly bizarre and desperate.
As well as a leaflet stating Salma Yaqoob is not a candidate in the General Election, as stated by GreenGreenie, they also have a double page leaflet focussing on the LibDem’s alleged support for giving the vote to prisoners.
In the leaflet, a rogue’s gallery of photos of paedophiles and murders is shown with the claim that the LibDems would give a vote to them, which is then juxtaposed with a similarly styled photo of the LibDem candidate (it can be found quite easily on the internet). The juxtaposition could easily confuse people into thinking that the LibDem candidate is maybe also a convicted paedophile or murderer? Certainly it’s an attempt to use “guilt by association”.
In any case, it is as a result of a European Court of Human Rights decision that a government of any political hue will have to consider about the current blanket restriction on all prisoners voting rights – being in favour of reviewing it, as the LibDems have stated, doesn’t necessarily mean giving voting rights to murderers. It’s hardly a major national election issue at present, but the leaflet’s aim of smearing opponents is clear.
Following Salma Yaqoob’s rebuttal of the Labour claim that she was not standing in the general election, self evidently nonsense to anyone who walks around Sparkbrook, the Labour agent then issued a press release a few days ago saying that this proved that she had double crossed and lied to the Green Party – as if the Labour Party has any interest or knowledge in this.
As the twists and turns of this bizarre Labour campaign continue, the local Green Party have now issued a further statement confirming that they are backing Yaqoob at parliamentary level in this election, .
The Godsiff team are also rumoured to have had a major fallout with their solitary councillor in this constituency, as their expected friends desert them in droves.
It may be that far from being a three way marginal, this extreme Labour campaign becomes self defeating, as Godsiff consigns himself to the fringes and it becomes a two way battle between Evans and Yaqoob. Labour voters will then have to question seriously who to give their vote to. There is some evidence that the strongest Labour supporters, including resident MP Lynne Jones, are already giving their backing to Yaqoob.
It will be a fascinating result.
This sounds like a fascinating local struggle. Please keep us updated as the campaign progresses.
Am I right in thinking that the peripetetic Mr Godsiff no longer represents any part of the constitunency that he was first elected for ?
Godsiff has lost his mind judging by his tactics, and handed this seat to the LibDems by 2-3000 majority.
The Godsiff leaflets can be found here:
http://www.thestirrer.co.uk/Documents/godsiff.pdf
and here:
http://www.thestirrer.co.uk/images4/godsiff-poster.JPG
“Am I right in thinking that the peripetetic Mr Godsiff no longer represents any part of the constitunency that he was first elected for ?”
Not quite. A very small part of the old Small Heath ward is now in Springfield ward.
The BBC are now reporting that the leaflet attacking the LibDems has been withdrawn following an intervention by the Labour Party General Secretary.
First Respect then the Lib Dems – lets hope he finishes behind both, just to see the look on his face!
The tale of how Roger Godsiff came to be chosen as Labour candidate for Birmingham Small Heath is recounted in Heffernan and Marqusee’s 1992 book, “Defeat from the jaws of victory: Inside Kinnock’s Labour Party” (Verso). Extracts can be found on the Socialist Unity website and Google books.
It’s a tale of how right wing trade union bosses corrupted and subverted the Labour Party to get their well paid bureaucrats into positions of influence, with the full support of the Labour Party leadership. In the process they trampelled on the democratic rights of members using mostly foul means, turning the Party into the narrow shell it is today. A token investigation was made into complaints, and, interestingly, one of the few who voted against Godsiff’s endorsement at the NEC was then left wing fellow Birmingham MP, Clare Short. Short has since taken her own route of accommodation and a trappist vow of silence over his shortcomings.
Despite being an MP for the city for 18 years, Godsiff has never lived in Birmingham yet claims one of the highest amounts of parliamentary expenses of all MPs.
For just about the first time in his life of ‘fixing’ and after his electoral near scrape with Salma Yaqoob in 2005, he is now having to fight an election based on open politics and is struggling to get out of the sewer.
Little wonder that so many erstwhile Labour supporters have abandoned him and more are set to put the boot in.
Sorry I should have said: the account of Godfiff becoming candidate is on page 153-155 of Heffernan and Marqusee’s book, which you can read in full on Google books. I assume it easily got past the libel lawyers on the grounds that it’s all demonstrably true.
Any Labour supporter who tries the ‘aren’t the Liberals awful?’ line should be asked to read Godsiff’s leaflet.
There is no evidence to suggest that convicted criminals would vote any differently from the those of us ‘on the outside’, so they are unlikely to influence the outcome – even on the Isle of Wight.
Tory gain (3-5%).
Mr Gittins,
There have been a few boundary changes here recently you know! If Respect do well in this seat – as some of the posters expect – the Conservatives will be in 4th place.
It’s not a question of “If Respect do well”, Salma is going to win Sparkbrook by a landslide (she got 50% last time). It’s a question of whether she can do well enough in the other wards to win.
David Nettleton the ( very few ) hardened criminals that I have met in my life were strong Conservatives despite coming from a working class east London background .
Whoever beats the Liberal Democrat will win this seat.
What if no one beats the Liberal Democrat?
Quite – that post makes no sense. It is quite possible that both Labour and Respect could beat the Liberal Democrat and of course they cannot both then win the seat. I’m pretty sure Respect will remain in third place with their strength largely limited to Sparkbrook and this is likely to end up close between Labour and LD.
On SPT’s question and Richard Allen’s reply – a slightly pedantic response. Of course as of the dissolution of parliament Mr Godsiff does not represent anywhere in parliament. Should he be elected here Richard Allen’s reply will stand, but that is by no means a given.
Then the LD candidate wins. There simply are not enough votes for the LD candidate to finish third – unless you believe that their share of the vote will drop below 28%. The question only somebody local can answer is: has the Labour candidate damaged his chances beyond repair? If he has, Salma is the most likely beneficiary. The Tory won’t win here.
LD by 2000; could be more depending on how many people the awful Godsiff has alienated. Conservatives are irrelevant in this seat (and the Conservatives in the area know it which will result in some tactical voting). The only way Respect will come better than 3rd is if there is dodgy behaviour, perhaps around postal votes.
There is a profile of Salma Yaqoob in today’s Guardian.
A lack of an accurate 2005 constituency vote profile makes life difficult for a tactical voter in Hall Green at this election. A lot of people in the constituency seem to vote Lib Dem locally and Tory nationally, which might explain why the LDs came third in all three constituencies (Hall Green, Selly Oak and Sparkbrook) last time despite having a solid base in local government support. The Lib Dem parliamentary campaign doesn’t seem to have any traction here; telling tactical voters to “send Gordon Brown a message” (on their latest leaflets) seems counter-productive in the first election where voters finally have the opportunity to actually get rid of him, and gives the impression that in a hung parliament the Lib Dems would vote to keep him in. Combine into that Salma Yaqoob’s endorsements of and by Labour and for a tactical voter who wants their vote to count towards a change of government it might become a more straightforward Tory v Labour battle.
In relation to AB’s claim that Respect can only come first or second as a result of postal voting fraud, this is an oft-whispered potentially libelous innuendo from the three main parties. In fact only Respect has clean hands on this – all three of the main parties have had leading members convicted of postal vote fraud, in the case of Birmingham it was a disgraceful episode involving Labour councillors that the judge famously likened to worse than a ‘banana republic’.
Respect alone nationally has called for the end of the current system of universal postal voting that has shown itself so open to abuse. Salma Yaqoob herself has publicised how post voting is used in muslim households to enable males to control the votes of females. For this she has encountered much hostility within the muslim community but has battled on on principle regardless.
Respect through George Galloway raised in parliament the scandal of postal voting abuse in Tower Hamlets and even though the authorities and establishment knew it was going on refused to do anything about it.
If Respect do come in first or second in this constituency (which I thoroughly expect to happen) it will be as a result of hard work, strong politics and good organisation, not as a result of any fraud.
I think this statement should be withdrawn, as there is not a shred of evidence to suggest that Respect are engaged in postal vote fraud – in fact it is quite the opposite, all three of the main parties have dirty hands on this.
I fear that the Clegg ‘surge’ will prevent Salma from winning this time, but, hopefully, she will triumph next time – which may be less than a year from now.
I thought Salma Yaqoob came over VERY well in that Guardian article. I would have thought that any left of centre voter would want to see such a free thinking intelligent woman in parliament.
With STV anyone who wanted her in parliamnet could vote for her while still voting for canddates of their own party, because I certainly wouldn’t vote for Galloway as PM!
This is the type of seat which the Lib Dems have to win if they are to have any chance of forcing a hung parliament.
I would like to vote for the BNP, even if it is only to appear as a statistic. I used to vote Labour, but at the time I had no idea that they would give our Country away. Now with the boundry changes there is no hope of me and mine being represented locally.
CHRISINTHENORTH – Contrary to the view that Galloway is only interested in foreign policy matters, he has spoken in parliament recently on this matter (9th Feb 2010), strongly in favour of voting reform and the adoption of the Single Transferable Voting system as used in Ireland.
Respect has laid out three conditions under which it would support a minority Labour Government – troop withdrawal from illegal and pointless wars; reform and cleaning up of parliament INCLUDING VOTING REFORM to a fair voting system; and a crash programme of public housing to tackle the housing crisis for the poorest part of the population.
Given that Respect is in contention in three seats including this one, three Respect MPs could make a significant impact in a hung parliament and would be far more likely to take a principled position on these issues, including voting reform most LibDems support, than the Liberal Democrat party itself – who have made clear they would rather back the Tories with their support for wars, cuts in social housing and fundamental opposition to voting and parliamentary reform.
This misrepresents Liberal Democrat policy. I suggest you read their Manifesto.
However, I hope Respect has 3 MP’s after 06 May 2010. All 3 are good candidates.
Although this isn’t the site to argue such matters, since David has so stated I have to register my disagreement. I find Galloway a nasty and prejudiced demagogue whose politics’ resemblance to socialism is extremely tangential.
Perhaps David Nettleton should stand under the Respect label when he seeks re-election to St Edmundsbury council next year rather than pretending to be ‘independent’. I doubt he’ll find much support in Suffolk for this fusion of far-left extremism and communalist politics
Pete – thanks for the unsolicited advice but I prefer to stand as Independent – without the parenthesis – as it reflects my approach to local politics more accurately than any party label could ever do.
Barnaby – we will have to agree to disagree about George Galloway. Yes, he is a bit too ‘show-biz’ for my liking, but he is at least interesting – a comment you couldn’t make about Philip Hammond or Ed Miliband.
The 2010 LD Manifesto is the best since Labour’s in 1945. Try reading it before commenting again. Please!
David I well understand why you would prefer to stand under an inocuous label such as ‘Independent’ rather than reveal your true political leanings and my ‘advice’ as you put it was not for your own benefit but for those of your electors who might prefer to know where you actually stand on the political spectrum. Perhaps they would still vote for you if they were aware that you share a place on the political spectrum with George Galloway and Salma Yaqoob – perhaps they wouldn’t but it would probably be useful for them to know.
I voted for Independent candidates in a town coucnil election in Newmarket many years ago because they were the only people on the ballot paper aside from the Labour candidates so I took them to be ‘Condependents’, but I wasnt entirely happy about it because for all I know they could have been closet Nazis or closet Communists.
Pete – There is no ‘perhaps’ about it. I would also like to see Caroline Lucas and Nigel Farage win. Pick the bones out of that!
Prinkipo; I did not intend to suggest Respect are engaged in postal vote fraud and I agree that the other parties have dirty hands. My point was simply that this is the only way Respect have a hope of coming better than 3rd. I stand by that as an analysis and stand by my call that this is a LibDem gain.
I think it’s a clear call for Salma Yaqoob.
Salma has the backing of the very popular (and rebelious) retiring MP for Moseley/King’s Heath etc, Lynne Jones. She has stated that she’s not backing Roger Godsiff. See Hansard)and this Bham Post article:
“Labour MP Lynne Jones backs Respect’s Salma Yaqoob in Hall Green battle”
http://www.birminghampost.net/news/politics-news/2010/04/09/labour-mp-lynne-jones-backs-respect-s-salma-yaqoob-in-hall-green-battle-65233-26204672/
Also the Green Party (who have done well in local elections) have stood down their candidate in favour of Salma.
Video of Local Green Party Co-ordinator stating support:
http://www.salmayaqoob.com/2010/04/green-party-response-to-roger-godsiffs.html
Salma would be a true independent unlike the other candidates,
Moseley Man
AB you are wrong – Respect will come better than third thanks to having an excellent candidate, good policies and an effective campaign.
On David Nettleton’s point about the LibDem manifesto, it is not a question of what the words say but about what the leader says about post-election coalition and programme. Clegg has made it clear LibDems will support a tory government and this guarantees no electoral reform. “Vote LibDem and get a tory” is the title of an article on Salma Yaqoob’s website explaining the experience in Birmingham City Council where the LibDems have backed the Tories for the last 6 years (even though Labour were the largest party on the council when they started their coalition).
What was the policy in Birmingham now seems set to be repeated nationwide and a vote for Jerry Evans is a vote for David Cameron for Prime Minister, if the present state of the opinion polls is repeated on 6 May.
Unlike the other parties, Respect has set out its position on a post election coalition if it has seats including Salma Yaqoob as MP in a hung parliament:
- no support for the Tories
- support a Labour minority government if it backs at least three key policies: withdraw troops from pointless foreign wars (ie Iraq and Afghanistan), parliamentary and electoral reform, a crash programme of public housing to tackle homelessness and inadequate living conditions.
It is reported that Roger Godsiff has condescended to appear before a hustings debate with other candidates so long as he is told of the questions in advance.
I wonder whether the Tory/Liberal council’s plan today to appeal against the equal pay court judgement they have just lost, will backfire on them electorally? Equal opportunities is fine in principle but not if it costs money, seems to be the principled position of the Tory and LibDem parties in the City.
Gentlemen;I appreciate the fervour of the Respect supporters on this site and have no axe to grind against either Respect or their candidate. However the unpalatable truth is that the large majority of voters in any seat see a general election as about the 3 main parties and will choose from them. In exceptional circumstances this can change but it requires eithera national figure (George Galloway, Roy Jenkins) or very peculiar local conditions such as in Wyre Forest. I was born a Brummie and my family still live there. I know this seat and there are no such special circumstances. Respect may win this seat amongst the political twitterati – but they will be dead amongst the majority who only think of politics once a year. I say this with no joy but its why I have my money (figuratively and literally) on the LDs.