As the place where the first cracks appeared in the Red Wall, our region is of huge political significance, and results here matter.
To that end, it is imperative that the campaign is well backed. We must have a core set of messages on issues that apply across the whole of London.
From Sandwell to Solihull, Bromsgrove to Wolverhampton, Dudley to Tamworth, we have been out to help the amazing local teams who have been working so tirelessly to hold and gain Council seats.
George Smith, the local Conservative leader, expects to beat Residents for Uttlesford, but faces acutely difficult decisions about how many houses to build.
The Mayor has no mandate for this irresponsible move. It was not in his Manifesto. Let’s put the power back in the hands of Londoners.
The Commissioners have restored good order. But they have failed to tackle profligate municipal spending and the high Council Tax burden on residents that results from it.
Smashing the boundaries between social classes is exactly the reason to be a Conservative in local government. That is my message to my neighbours in Guildford.
Some of my ideas have come about and others haven’t, but it’s more than a whimsical simile that local government turns slower than an oil tanker.
The tally of candidate nominations offers some encouragement for the Conservatives, with the low number from Reform UK. But an anti-Conservative electoral pact in Waverley may be a source of anxiety.
Labour is confident in Swindon. But what of its traditional territory such as Stoke and Hull?
Even the software we are given to create leaflets is years out of date, not even allowing collaborative working across toolkit accounts. Would it really hurt CCHQ to make our lives a little easier by giving us up to date systems?
In the start of our series, we look at the metropolitan boroughs. Dudley, Sandwell, and Walsall will be among the ones to watch.
We will be working to take control and reverse the decades of devastation that the Council has subjected our city to.
This is not to mention closing the roads in the city centre, a legacy of trying to enforce pedestrianisation.
Local associations want to be able to select parliamentary candidates as early as possible. I completely agree. Therefore, I am delighted to announce that the first tranche of constituencies is being advertised today.