Tory candidate keeps it local amid ‘partygate’
NEXT month’s local elections in Birmingham have thrown up almost 400 candidates looking to secure a seat on Birmingham City Council.
One is 24-year-old Connor McCormack, a ‘Local Conservatives’ candidate who has lived in Quinton since the age of ten and said he sees the area “going downhill”.
“We’ve got so many local issues,” Mr McCormack said. “Our pavements are not even, the roads have many potholes deep enough to cause an accident, there are regular bin issues, and there is speeding on Hagley Road West. Another local issue in Quinton that is being ignored is fly-tipping.”
He has been an active member of the Quinton community since going out on the campaign trail in the 2021 by-election with Cllr Dominic Stanford, who went on to win the first Conservative seat in the ward since 2008.
The two have formed a strong bond since then and worked on several campaigns together.
Mr McCormack said: “With the campaigning of myself and Cllr Stanford, we had hundreds of petitions signed to keep our police station open. Banging heads together and making the fuss that we did, the police station isn’t being sold off now, and we do have our own designated police sergeant within Quinton.”
Mr McCormack also started his own clean-up group to tackle the rubbish on the streets, one of the crucial local issues facing Birmingham residents in the run-up to the local elections.
However, local elections and byelection results reflect the mood towards national politics, so the ongoing Partygate scandal, made worse by last week’s news that Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were fined by police, could have an impact.
But Mr McCormack was quick to distance himself from Number 10.
“When speaking to residents out canvassing, it hasn’t been brought up that much, Partygate and the cost of living. Not that they are not important, but trying to differentiate between national and local, I’m local – I’ve got nothing to do with the national side of the party. The keyword is ‘local’ elections, it’s not a general election.
“The cost of living is a concern for many Quintonians, but as a Local Conservative if we gained control of the council, we would immediately freeze council tax.”