Simon would show what Labour can do in power – Corbyn

JEREMY Corbyn has urged party activists to ensure Labour candidate Siôn Simon is elected as the first mayor of the West Midlands.

He said victory for Mr Simon would give Labour an opportunity to show what they could achieve when they gained power.

The Labour leader was speaking to councillors, MPs and activists from across the West Midlands at a reception in Liverpool, where the party is holding its annual conference.

Mr Simon, a West Midlands MEP and former Birmingham MP, is to stand in the first ever election for a West Midlands regional mayor.

Mr Corbyn said: “The election of the metro mayor comes up in May.

“We have selected Sion Simon as a candidate.

“I wish him all the very best... make sure we win that election, so that we show what a Labour administration in one region can do in improving transport and driving the way forward on all the other issues.”

He continued: “I want you to do a couple of things. One is to get yourselves to winning that election next year.

“But secondly, together as a party, to point out the inadequacies of what this Tory government is doing and the hypocrisy of the Prime Minister standing on the steps of Downing Street to say she is concerned about poverty and inequality in Britain.”

Mr Corbyn said attending the West Midlands reception made him feel “half way home”, because he grew up in Telford.

And he criticised the Government’s plan to open new grammar schools, saying he remembered the days when most children took an exam at 11, the 11-plus, to see whether they attended a grammar school or not.

» Neil Elkes: Page 29