Chandra Kanneganti: The Coronavirus challenges I’ve seen as a doctor and a councillor

Death is not a statistical data point, and the loss of life of a mother, a father, a child, and a key worker can never be filled.

Abi Brown: How planning reforms can help level up Red Wall cities such as Stoke-on-Trent

De-industrialisation has led to a high number of empty properties. But we now have more housing completions than the average London borough.

Jonathan Gullis: At last, we have an Education Secretary willing to say that the emperor has no clothes

We have a university system where 34 per cent of graduates don’t get graduate jobs and which subsidises unlimited courses in media studies.

Where CCHQ should move to

Our readers’ top choice was the same as Number Ten’s for the Lords: York. But a good case was made for Coventry – and Warwick University.

Building the Blue Wall: Stoke South

The fourth in our series: how the 2017 generation of winners from Labour increased their majorities.

Eddie Hughes: Our values must drive CCHQ. That means moving it to a town or small city – not a big one.

Going from the metropolitan bubble in London to another one elsewhere would be pointless. What about Derby, Stoke or York instead?

Robert Alden: CCHQ should be relocated to Birmingham

Good quality office space is far cheaper in Birmingham than London, and the quality of life is higher. The West Midlands is full of battleground parliamentary seats.

Lee Rowley: North East Derbyshire was a forerunner of this election victory. Here’s what we did to win again.

For my colleagues who’ve smashed through the Red Wall – pick those bricks up and build anew.

Ben Bradley: Voters tore down the Red Wall because they were sick of Labour talking down to them and holding them back

That doesn’t mean they are all suddenly hardcore Tories. For many we were the least-worst option. But we have an opportunity to win their trust.

Matthew Lesh: The radical neoliberal programme which can revitalise the Conservatives

The Neoliberal Manifesto, a joint project between the Adam Smith Institute and 1828, champions an approach based on freedom, markets and choice.

Andy Street: Let business beat politics – and let’s build the nation’s first Gigafactory in the West Midlands

We can avoid the mistakes of the past by locating a new factory for electric car batteries in the regional home of vehicle manufacturing.

Ryan Bourne: To help grow prosperity, let’s focus on people and not places – such as towns

Bowman and Westlake’s policy ideas are perfectly compatible with this end, but pitching them as a city and town agenda risks creating a false impression.

Abi Brown and Dan Jellyman: We are witnessing the Conservative urban revival in Stoke

In 2011, we only had a couple of councillors. Now we lead it. Labour’s complacency has given us the chance to grow.

The local elections revisited: an analysis of results in the West Midlands

Reviewing the details of the results in this region gives a sense of how volatile the electorate has become.

The warning from the local elections to Labour MPs seeking to thwart Brexit – or stay in the Customs Union

Those representing constituencies with big majorities that voted Leave may conclude they don’t want to push their luck.