West Midlands 2017 Communist Mayoral Manifesto

Communist Manifesto

West Midlands Mayoral Election

-

Britain’s Road to Socialism The new edition of Britain’s Road to Socialism, the Communist Party’s programme, adopted in July 2011; presents and analysis of capitalism and imperialism in its current form; answers the questions of how a revolutionary transformation might be bought about in 21st Century Britain; and what a socialist and communist society in Britain might look like.

The BRS was first published in 1951 after nearly six years of discussion and debate across the CP, labour movement and working class. Over its 8 editions it has sold more than a million copies in Britain and helped to shape and develop the struggle of the working class for more than half a century.

Other previous editions of the BRS have been published in 1952, 1958, 1968, 1977, 1989 and 2000 as well as multiple substantially revised versions.

Communist Review Theoretical & Discussion Journal of the Communist Party £3 inc p&p. Subscribe from £12 per year

The Real Alternative CONTENTS Preface: This Mayoral race is a stitch-up Introduction: Clean Air and respect for nature

4

FEDERALISM AND REGIONAL DEVOLUTION English Devolution

4

Devolution and TIFs

4

Public Finance Initiatives

5

Traffic reduction, air quality and low carbon

6

Boosting biodiversity, eliminating fossil fuels

8

Mental Health

18

A Greener West Midlands

8

Drugs Policy

19

The arts

9

Social Care

19

Women

20

TRANSPORT

SOCIAL POLICIES

Cycling

10

Women’s refuges

20

The Swift Card

10

Anti-racism and anti-fascism

20

Tackling Road Congestion

10

LGBTQ+

21

Buses for All

11

EU citizens, refugees, and asylum seekers

21

Wheelchair spaces on buses

12

Urban agriculture

21

Free bus travel for school and college students & job seekers 13

FUNDING AND FINANCE

Service standards on the road and in the garage

13

Where will the money come from?

22

Bus drivers’ pay

13

Fair taxes

22

Better rail services for the people

14

A Land Value Tax

23

M6 Toll Road

14

Economic and social benefits

23

A building tax

24 24

HOUSING CRISIS Desperate Needs

15

Other local taxes

Land supply & trees

16

Council mortgages

17

DECENT WORK AND DECENCY IN LIFE Trade Union rights 24

Housing Co-operatives

17

A Living Wage

24

Regeneration

18

Just For Birmingham

25

Coventry & Solihull

25

The Black Country & Wolverhampton

26

For all the boroughs

26

Imagine a new kind of mayor for a new West Midlands

26

Preface by Communist Party Mayoral candidate, Graham Stevenson Dear friend, This mayoral race is a stitch up. Birmingham decisively rejected the mayoral system in a referendum – Coventry did so by over two-thirds - the other boroughs never even got to vote! But now a mayoralty has been imposed on the West Midlands by an out-of-touch Tory government, supported by Labour bureaucrats who believe they’d simply be allowed to step in and run the show.

We have a political system that ignores us at best and actively seeks to isolate us, as we have seen in this contest with bans on me appearing on some platforms. Since the Communist Party is the only genuine alternative to the establishment parties, unambiguously able and willing to challenge the vested interests of billionaires, I am not surprised at this but we will campaign after the election and before the 2018 councillor elections to End The Ban on Communists .I will stand up for every member of the community.

The Communist Party is willing to oppose big business, exploitative employers, and career politicians, and to battle for ordinary working families. As the Communist Party candidate, I answer to nobody but the voters. We are facing many challenges.

Too many of us suffer because of low-pay, zero-hour contracts, and fake self-employment. As a staunch trade unionist, I want us to do something about that. It is simply not tolerable that, in the industrial heartland of one the richest countries in the world, people are on low wages and in insecure employment.

When we return home from work, many of us find ourselves in poor housing. Again, this is unacceptable; the Communist Party has a programme for housing which I want us to take forward here in the West Midlands. Our families need safe, affordable, decent housing with adequate local amenities, including schools for our children, green spaces, and care for our elderly relatives.

The West Midlands draws strength from its diversity. I am proud to live in a region which has drawn people from all over the globe. I rejoice when we come together as one community. Sadly, we are a long way from ending the scourge of racism, sexism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and transphobia. I want the West Midlands to stand up to those who seek to divide us for their own purposes. I want us to continue as a diverse, but strong community.

We are stronger together. Of course, Communists work for a different sort of society, more just and more equal. We want to replace capitalism by socialism. We want to see the banks, the land, the factories and the supermarkets taken into public ownership, run by the people for the people, the profits shared between us all, no longer grabbed by a handful of very rich big business people. We believe that only a socialist commonwealth can ensure satisfying jobs and stable prosperity for all. Only socialism can end war and save the planet from global warming.

We believe socialism is the future – but we also work for reforms within the present capitalist system. In trade unions, tenants' associations, community campaigns, over the years Communists have struggled to win and then to defend better wages and conditions, improved health and social services, equal pay for women and young people, and many other improvements. The election of a Mayor is an opportunity to fight for more reforms. I propose sensible and affordable policies for public transport, for housing, for social care, for democratic public ownership, and for the protection of our environment. These are progressive policies which seek to ensure that nobody in the West Midlands is left behind.

We all deserve to reap the benefits of living in this great region. Though the mayor’s powers and funds will be limited, the role is that of spokesperson of the region. The Mayor can express and inspire efforts to improve the devolution settlement and increase the available resources. At present the privileged 1% have 99% of the wealth and power. It’s high time for the 99% of us to get together and demand a bigger share. A Communist Mayor will be able to articulate this demand. I would lead collective resistance to the property profiteers, to the privateers of the NHS, and to those who seek to divide us by attacking Muslims, immigrants, and disabled people. We need resistance in every workplace, every community. So, the proposals in this manifesto aren’t confined to what the Mayor can do in the short-term; they also look ahead to what would be possible in the West Midlands when there is a progressive Labour government at Westminster.

I have the exact experience and qualifications to be a Mayor who will stand up and fight for our region, for your interests. When I was regional head of public transport for the Transport & General Workers Union back in 1986, I campaigned for a tram service, one properly integrated with buses. I went on to a national and international trade union career representing transport workers across the board.

The West Midlands is the beating heart of Britain. We need a strong voice. We need an independent voice. We must act together in solidarity against vested interests, against all who seek to divide us, and against the increasingly damaging Tory government. I stand four-square with the wave of anti-establishment feeling spreading across the western world. The bid by Bernie Sanders to gain the Democratic nomination for US President was inspiring. So too was the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader – twice. This is our opportunity to make the best of a Mayoralty that has been imposed on us.

No matter who is elected, the more votes that are cast for me the sooner our people-friendly policies will be forced on to the mainstream agenda. And the more hope there will be for a united struggle for decent jobs, homes and neighbourhoods.

But possibly the most significant thing that a West Midlands Mayor could do is to massively promote racial harmony, equality and solidarity. A third of residents in the West Midlands Combined Authority are of an ethnic minority group. Whilst the 16 - 64 employment rate for those from an ethnic minority from October 2015 to September 2016 was 55.3%, over 8 percentage points below the average employment rate for ethnic minorities in Britain (63.7%). The lack of young black and Asian men and women in work, training, or academic education is particularly worrying.

If our region is to takes racial victimisation, bullying and harassment seriously, we must ensure that there are excellent reporting and response mechanisms in place. Working with the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Mayor can do much to ensure this. But it will need much more to promote good relations between people from different racial groups in the region. I believe the Combined Authority has an absolute obligation to be sensitive to diverse cultural, linguistic and faith requirements among our population. If we do not examine institutional practice in areas like recruitment and selection or staff development with race equality in mind, it will only have fulfilled the requirements of the general duty in part.

The Mayor should spearhead a community based task force to ensure that race equality informs all aspects of local government and the services it offers. This can be achieved by ensuring that account is taken of race equality in planning, policy, quality assurance, employment practice and so on.

For a truly progressive West Midlands I ask you to support me, Graham Stevenson., and make me your first preference on the ballot for West Midlands Mayor.

Best Wishes,

INTRODUCTION: CLEAN AIR AND RESPECT FOR NATURE Let’s start with a quote from Graham Stevenson on a subject close to his heart: “Within the remit of the West Midlands Combined Authority Mayoral responsibilities, it is imperative that we address environmental challenges in our regions, and install this agenda at the heart of any post-Brexit discussion. If elected, I would work to ensure that mandatory Clean Air Zones are extended to major conurbations across the West Midlands, and would look to implementing responsible practice via a series of fiscal and legislative actions. This would need to be combined with a workable public transport infrastructure, publicly funded and owned. I would put clean air and respect for nature at the heart of everything I do. Every policy proposal contains this idea like a red thread running through it all.””

FEDERALISM AND REGIONAL DEVOLUTION The Communist Party calls for a federal Britain with national parliaments for England, Scotland, and Wales. We have advocated home rule powers for Scotland and Wales since the 1930s, and our programme, Britain’s Road to Socialism, explains the place of federal parliaments within an overall strategy for achieving socialism. This can be read and downloaded from http://www.communist-party.org.uk/socialism.html As part of the federal agenda, Communists in the West Midlands call for a People’s Assembly for the region. This will open the Mayoralty to democratic influence and accountability, and strengthen the ability of ordinary folk to combat the centralised power of banks, big business, and commercial property owners.

The Assembly should be elected by a genuine system of proportional representation (the single transferable vote).

It should control the mayor’s strategy and budget.

Major areas of taxation need to be retained at Federal (British) level (alongside control of monetary policy). But funding delegated responsibility requires a renegotiation of a direct block grant from Westminster. It would be quite feasible to calibrate the distribution of tax revenue to regional need by using key indicators such as child poverty, standard mortality rate, the proportion of population under 16 and over 65, work-limiting disability, unemployment, and household income per head. Moving to a new system of a fully needs-based re-allocation would require a phased transition.

ENGLISH DEVOLUTION The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 allowed for the devolution of powers from the UK government to some of England's towns, cities and counties and the WMCA Mayor emerged from this. But there was little debate around this, even though there are now a range of ‘deals’ in over a dozen major conurbations of England. Discussions have also taken place on further devolution within sub-sectors of Greater London. Devolved powers vary hugely but the core notion of Combined Authorities with directly-elected mayors is at the heart of a very undemocratic and sly operation. Frequent features are: ¨ consolidated, multi-year transport budgets ¨ franchised bus services, local railway stations, and ‘smart ticketing’ ¨ investment funds or strategies of working with house-builders ¨ enhanced powers to raise and borrow funds with business support budgets ¨ some control over further education or apprenticeship grants for employers ¨ some role with DWP over the Work and Health Programme; ¨ sometimes health and social care; or even police, fire and waste disposal services.

The devolution deal in the West Midlands is one of the least wide-ranging but even that raises hugely significant questions. What will happen to the current EU funding for regional development, for example? Devolution of the work and health programme has origins within welfare policy but contributes to a broadly similar, devolutionary, goal. This welfare-to-work programme which will be launched in autumn 2017, providing specialised support for those unemployed for over two years and, on a voluntary basis, to those with health conditions or disabilities. The programme will be run by service providers awarded contracts by the Government and forms part of a wider package of employment support for people with disabilities, as outlined in the Government’s Green Paper.

DEVOLUTION AND TIFs The campaign for progressive federalism, not a particularly catchy or clear term, holds the key to three critical issues facing the British people: 1. Scottish independence 2. US-style corporate politics for England’s North and Midlands

3. What to get out of the Brexit negotiations.

The growing democratic deficit amidst the loss of powers that must be retrieved is vital for the English regions at a time when the 2016 Cities and Local Government Devolution Act could close what remains of local democracy. It has given the government powers to create super regions administering a range of centrally devolved (and controlled) budgets. It also provides the new authorities with powers to borrow against these budgets to finance infrastructure needed by big business.

The problem with these financial powers is that they are like those exercised in the US under Tax Increment Financing (TIF) schemes. Such finances are not appropriated directly from local government's budgets but the body incurs loss through foregone tax revenue. To provide the needed subsidy, a TIF district is essentially always drawn around hundreds or thousands of acres of additional real estate to provide the needed borrowing capacity through committing all normal yearly future tax increases.

Now known as New Development Deals, local authorities must apply to borrow money via TIFs and the only tax revenues which local authorities can use to repay the loans are those from business rates. A cap of £150m is set on the total amount that can be borrowed under TIF. New financial powers have been granted to allow Greater Manchester to “earn back” up to £1.2 billion from economic growth generated through up-front investment in infrastructure.

Although now questioned by a growing number of critics, who right-wing Labour and the Tories close their ears to, it is often presumed that even public improvements trigger gains in taxes above what occurs, or would have occurred without the investment. As investment in an area increases, land values rise, pricing ordinary people out of the area. London -style property prices will ensue.

TIF leads to favouritism for politically connected developers and others involved in the processes. Once repayment is demanded, it must come from the budgets needed to sustain social services and public-sector employment.

These new Tory-mandated regions with right-wing Labour collusion will compete with one another for corporate investment without having any democratic powers over capital itself.

Progressive federalism is about restoring these democratic powers and providing a democratic base for class politics. It must be fought for now, by exposing the nature of the Tories’ super regions and, above all, in retrieving the necessary democratic powers from the EU. PUBLIC FINANCE INITIATIVES It’s worth looking at PFIs, which were sold by New Labour under Tony Blair as a marvellous way to obtain new hospitals without paying up front for them. The truth is that PFI has turned out to be as phony a system as TIF will.

PFI deals involve public bodies paying the private sector to build and manage a project for a certain period, often 20 to 30 years.

Councils need to spend more money on most local services. But expenditure on interest payments on Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts should be massively reduced. These contracts are invariably structured to maximise tax reliefs of one sort of another, and lucrative ‘refinancing’ deals have emerged as well as a secondary market in PFI companies, which have enabled the extraction of extraordinary sums of money from these projects, usually routed via tax havens. We will need to find a way to unpick each contract. The taxpayer is going to spend the next 33 years paying £19,100,00,00 to cover all 55 Private Finance Initiative contracts in the West Midlands.

This is on top of the £6,000,000,000. Over 25 BILLION IN ALL. The bodies that own PFI contracts covering the Selly Oak and Queen Elizabeth hospitals, and their share of the total are Balfour Beatty (40%), HICL (30%), and Infrared Infrastructure Fund (30%). Both HICL and Infrared have companies registered in Guernsey so they can avoid tax.

Typically, there are multiple deals to pay the private sector a fortune to handle work that could have been done at a fraction of the cost. For example, there are nine PFI projects in Birmingham, four for schools, four for Health and one for highway maintenance. In addition to these the M6 toll road is a PFI. The combined capital value of these projects, i.e. the capital put up by the private investors, was £1.28 billion.

In 2014-15 the public authorities paid £177.7 million in unitary payments made up of two elements: (a) interest and repayments of the capital sum, and (b) the ongoing maintenance operation and service costs, for example catering.

Unitary payments for the coming year 2017-18 are estimated to be £190.8 million. This will bring the total paid for PFI projects between 2010 and 2018 to £ 1.29 billion – £10 million more than the original outlay.

However, this is only the beginning: these PFI contracts still have years to run. The first to expire, Birmingham Group Schools 1, will run till 2030-31. Six of the contacts will still be running in 2036-37. The last two (mental health services in Erdington and the Selly Oak and Queen Elizabeth hospitals) will only expire on 31st March 2047, by which time the public will have paid £6.6 billion, over 5 times the capital originally advanced.

Birmingham’s PFI contract for the roads and streets lighting network went to court and is still being appealed. In 2010 Amey Birmingham Highways Ltd and Birmingham City Council entered a 25-year contract said to have a value of £2.7 billion. The council subsequently disputed a monthly payment of £1.18 million and claimed it had overpaid Amey some £18.8 million between June 2013 and July 2015.

Traffic reduction, air quality and low carbon We make well over 5 million daily road trips in the West Midlands. A massive rise in car use challenges us to ease congestion, manage parking, and get cleaner, greener and safer – by more walking and cycling, and more use of buses, trains and trams. We need to change travel behaviour by addressing safety, reliability and cost, but also by providing good park and ride options to make the use of trains, buses and trams more attractive to car users.

The reason bus patronage increased in London was because there was the political will to do it. Bringing in a congestion charge was the single most important contribution to adequate levels of funding to boost public transport. The second factor was gaining Highway Authority powers to bring in extensive priority measures. We need to have the same commitment in the West Midlands, and this is one of the reasons our Party has stood a candidate for Mayor.

We need travel planning by business and schools, to ensure car-sharing and less car use is encouraged. Incentivised schemes (Better Points in Birmingham as an example) should make other forms of travel such as cycling, public transport, walking, more attractive, and we should be involving employers in maintaining greater use of flexible working practices, such as working from home and providing adequate working facilities in accessible locations.

Planning of new housing developments should include a commitment to local retail, healthcare and education, to reduce the need for out of town developments.

Our candidate has pledged to support organisations and partners such as the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trusts, who have developed a shared vision for the natural environment of the West Midlands Combined Authority. This will enable long term decision making, and management, governance and monitoring of the natural environment to safeguard it for future generations.

“The West Midlands is one of the worst hit areas outside the capital for illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution” Matthew Taylor, The Guardian 4th April 2017.

MEPS Reject EU Road Agency in vote for new post-Dieselgate rules EURACTIV.com 4 April 2017 Traffic control in the West Midlands must address the problem of more polluting vehicles, such as diesel cars. We need a scrappage scheme for older vehicles, paying car drivers to end the life of old bangers, and in the case of newer cars, toxicity charges on polluting vehicles, and a greater provision of charging zones for electric vehicles.

It is not acceptable that people in the West Midlands are breathing air that is some of the worst in the UK. It used to be factory pollution along with coal fires that caused poor air and now it is road pollution.

Communists would welcome and support a 21st Century Clean Air Act to ensure controls are both explicit and enforceable in the West Midlands regions.

It is unfortunate that the zero carbon homes initiative, as set out in the 2008 Climate Change Act (and the 2011 Carbon Plan), was overturned by this government in its 2015 Housing and Planning Bill. If elected, Graham Stevenson will make recommendations to the Combined Authority to promote a commitment to a carbon compliance standard in new builds which goes beyond the levels in current legislation. It should also be a given that new developments take an integrated approach to the needs of residents in terms of transport, accessible retail and health facilities, schools and an appropriately localised infrastructure to cut down road usage.

Graham is also committed to reducing fuel poverty. Better insulated homes, especially older houses, need something akin to the developments of the1980s that gave inner city areas new roofs and in some cases even new windows There are several initiatives Graham Stevenson has said he would be keen to see developed in the West Midlands to fund low carbon transition: à A localised revolving fund - savings from investments in energy efficiency and other forms of low carbon development captured and reinvested– bringing in research departments, energy companies, businesses to work on a consistent model of research and reinvestment. à A Transport Levy aimed at employers who encourage resource-hungry cars into already congested centres, and provide positive incentives to employees to use public transport, cycling and walking, via an integrated transport system, and safer paths and priority lanes. à A City Tax on hotel rooms as a start would cover the increased demand on local resources brought by developers. It would retain wealth within the heart of the region, rather than it always wandering out to the commuter belts, which get further and further away each year.

The need for long-term planning and serious investment in renewable energy is becoming more evident by the month. Although there are continual breakthroughs in technology that make renewable energy and energy storage more economic and efficient (in the fields of solar, wind, biomass, air source heat pumps, batteries, etc.), the current structures stand in the way of making realistic investment in safe, non-nuclear, renewable energy supplies for the future – a vital task that cannot be left to the profiteering whims of a neo-liberal government, or the private sector.

Birmingham, for example, has spent significant time and resources on retrofitting properties in recent years, but repeated changes in national legislation and funding has made progress difficult.

As with other areas of environmental innovation and social impact, a Communist Mayor would be especially keen to work in partnership with relevant social enterprises wherever possible.

The Combined Authority Mayor will have a crucial role to play in this field, given that the post holder will control a £1.1bn, 30-year investment fund, and an adult skills budget which was formerly administered through the Skills Funding Agency(SFA) This shift from the SFA offers opportunities for improved planning and targeting of funding to meet specific local skills needs.

We believe that it is crucial for the Combined Authority to take an innovative and proactive approach to developing low-carbon skills across the area's labour market. The Local Enterprise Partnerships have already created plans for developing the local skills base, with the aim of creating additional high quality jobs and bringing significant growth to the region. We welcome the fact that, for example, the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP's 'Skills for Growth Plan' highlights Environmental Technologies as one of its priority sectors.

However, as the Institute for Public Policy Research’s Liverpool case study [2016] illustrates, the sector is at present extremely vulnerable to changes in policy – especially in terms of central government funding. A Communist Mayor would seek to use significant investment in transportation and housing to create a more stable local framework for low-carbon skills development. Graham would certainly wish to explore how public procurement could advance low-carbon opportunities in the region.

Graham Stevenson says: “I would aim to be a catalyst for more effective communication, strategic planning and coordination between local authorities and LEPS, public and private partners, all of whom need to work together to assess the probable type of skills likely to be required in the future.

I would also wish to raise the profile and prestige of this sector, so that it offers a more attractive and progressive career framework, including high-quality apprenticeships, providing a structure leading from access-level jobs to advanced professions.”

The region is fortunate in already having such respected provision as Birmingham City University's Centre for Low -Carbon Research, Birmingham University's Centre for Low Carbon Futures, and Aston's and Coventry's various low-carbon vehicle research initiatives. However, maximising opportunities for local people will necessitate increased co-operation and co-ordination between public sector procurement, business, further education and the higher education sector; Graham is committed to achieving this integrated approach.

BOOSTING BIODIVERSITY & ELIMINATING FOSSIL FUELS A Communist Mayor would take a lead from the expert environmental and sustainability groups, who have framed the biodiversity and climate change debate. We fully support forums which bring together business leaders, local authorities, transport and other service agents with a consortium of groups foregrounding biodiversity (e.g. the various Sustainability West Midlands networks, the Wildlife Trust, Friends of the Earth). We must ensure that the decisions we make today have a positive impact on the environment for future generations, and that we provide sustainable habitats for wildlife.

Within his Mayoral role, Graham Stevenson would strongly support campaigns to divest local pensions from fossil fuels, and would work with partners to promote campaigns aimed at: Þ Þ Þ

increasing individuals’ awareness of their pension's investments in environmentally harmful areas improving their ability to request alternative fossil-free investment options encouraging funds to recognise the potential financial benefits of alternative fossil-free investment.

Currently, very few pension funds in the UK offer their members an option not to be invested in fossil fuels. This is largely because, as the law stands, the only acceptable reason for a fund to divest is one taken for financial reasons not on moral or ethical grounds. This is compounded by the fact that many important decisions about the British economy are taken in corporate boardrooms overseas, reflecting the interests of company directors and shareholders who have no long-term stake in Britain's economy, society and environment, or the needs of workforces and local communities here. In broader terms, the Communist Party of Britain opposes the substantial under-investment in productive industry, socially useful services, science, new technology, education, training and research and development at home. Such investment that does take place in Britain is heavily weighted towards the state subsidised armaments industry.

Graham Stevenson says: “I am supportive of the work of organisations such as Share Action that helps pension fund members take control of their money, and would seek to build locally on the good example of disinvestment campaign groups such as Fossil Free.

Starting in 2018, all major towns and cities across the West Midlands area should have well-funded clean-air zones. The phasing-out of diesel vehicles throughout the area must be fully achieved in just a few years, certainly not the eight to fifteen years I have heard mentioned as acceptable targets by some.

We must ensure zero carbon standards from all new homes and buildings (including affordable homes) and make the West Midlands a leader in the use of innovative clean energy storage and smart demand side technologies. Rapid expansion of the research and training in low carbon technology and the green economy is needed, whilst supporting wildlife and its habitats.

Working with the biodiversity sector we must urgently save bees and local pollinators.

Shifting local public sector pension funds away from polluting and socially irresponsible investments towards constructive support for the local economy is a good way to demonstrate the way ahead.”

A GREENER WEST MIDLANDS The Communist Party supports moves towards tackling human-made climate change and the continued degradation of our environment. We recognise that this is both a global task and something we act on in our own countries and cities. Graham Stevenson would strongly support campaigns to divest local pensions from fossil fuels, and would work with partners to promote campaigns aimed at: Þ increasing individuals’ awareness of their pension's investments in environmentally harmful areas Þ improving their ability to request alternative fossil-free investment options Þ encouraging funds themselves to recognise the potential financial benefits of alternative fossil -free investment.

Currently, very few pension funds in the UK offer their members an option not to be invested in fossil fuels. This is largely because, as the law stands, the only acceptable reason for a fund to divest is one taken for financial reasons not on moral or ethical grounds.

This is compounded by the fact that many important decisions about the British economy are taken in corporate boardrooms overseas, reflecting the interests of company directors and shareholders who have no long-term stake in Britain's economy, society and environment, or the needs of workforces and local communities here.

In broader terms, the Communist Party of Britain opposes the substantial under-investment in productive industry, socially useful services, science, new technology, education, training and research and development at home. Such investment that does take place in Britain is heavily weighted towards the state subsidised armaments industry.

Graham Stevenson says: “I am supportive of the work of organisations such as Share Action that helps pension fund members take control of their money, and would seek to build locally on the good example of disinvestment campaign groups such as Fossil Free. Starting in 2018, all major towns and cities across the West Midlands area should have wellfunded clean-air zones. The phasing-out of diesel vehicles throughout the area must be fully achieved in just a few years, certainly not the eight to fifteen years I have heard mentioned as acceptable targets by some. We must all work to reduce traffic and boost the uptake of public transport, walking, cycling, and electric vehicles via an integrated transport and planning strategy.

We must ensure zero carbon standards from all new homes and buildings (including affordable homes) and make the West Midlands a leader in the use of innovative clean energy storage and smart demand side technologies. Rapid expansion of the research and training in low carbon technology and the green economy is needed, whilst supporting wildlife and its habitats.

Working with the biodiversity sector we must urgently save bees and local pollinators.

Shifting local public sector pension funds away from polluting and socially irresponsible investments towards constructive support for the local economy is a good way to demonstrate the way ahead.”

Communists understand that the environmental catastrophe faced by the Earth is linked to the way in which we use and allocate natural resources. The logic of capitalism leads to an insatiable demand for resources due to its constant need to expand. Powerful corporations will (often successfully) lobby hard for weaker environmental regulations to expand their profit margins - this comes at the expense of our living standards. In a capitalist global economy, there is simply not the capability to plan the use of resources to ensure a greener future for us and future generations: it is all about short-term profit at the expense of long-term human need.

As Mayor, Graham will work with any organisation that shares his goal of a cleaner, greener West Midlands. This is a global problem, but we can act locally to promote an environmentally sustainable region.

As a campaigning mayor, Graham will also push central government to work towards a greener future, and make sure that the West Midlands has sufficient funding for a programme of environmental projects. He will raise with government the matter of ensuring the WMCA receives its fair share of Vehicle Excise Duty, Air Passenger Duty, Landfill Tax, and Aggregates Levy. To improve our region, we must have the funding, and Graham will fight hard for what is due to the West Midlands including working out how energy usage and strategic procurement can be used to promote a greener region, as can recycling.

THE ARTS Graham Stevenson argues for a different vision for the region.

“I did not enter this election out of any personal ambition. I have declared I will renounce the exorbitant salary, for one. I’d like to make a difference not just by metaphorically bringing bread to the tables of working people but by placing roses there, also. I believe that art, poetry, song and music, all creative products of the human mind have evolved to move, inspire and unite us. For most of our history, the arts — music, song, poetry, storytelling, painting — were direct expressions of our social nature. They communicated insights, values, motivation for work and collective effort. They helped develop and sustain the cultural commons, generating social solidarity and co-operation. After all, it was Karl Marx who saw that it is part of the essential nature of art to express and develop the human capacity for empathy.”

Currently, government manages the funding for this sector via Arts Council England, formed in 1994, a nondepartmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Regional arts boards were subsumed into ACE, although a Midlands Council seems to exist in what for me is a positively opaque manner. Trying to make sense of its minutes is hard since a typical entry seems to be this “[Information has been withheld here in line with the requirements of section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 – prejudice to commercial interests. A public authority is entitled to withhold information under this provision where disclosure of that information would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of any persons or organisations, including the Arts Council itself.]”

A new co-operative, Culture Matters, put our concerns rather well: `Peter Bazalgette, outgoing chair of Arts Council England (ACE) is the man who brought Big Brother to our screens – no, not Orwell but obsessive celebrity unreality TV. His

claim that empathy “is only just beginning to become explicit” in cultural expression may also surprise those of you who have come across the Bible, Chaucer, Shakespeare’s plays, Beethoven’s music, Rembrandt’s paintings, Wordsworth’s poetry, Tolstoy’s novels or Renoir’s films — to name only a few works of art and literature which express and generate human empathy.’

ACE subsidises the arts in England with the largess it was bequeathed by Tony Blair’s New Labour government.

There is virtually no consultation with trade unions nor consideration given to the rights, tastes and needs of working people as consumers and producers of the arts. A small unelected body, which overwhelmingly represents the interests of the main London-based arts institutions, manages the funding, derived from general taxation and lottery tickets.

It’s outrageously distributed, with about half of the total budget consistently going to London-based facilities for two decades now.

If you are well-off and live in the London area, you have far better access to state-subsidised arts and culture facilities than if you are poor, working class and live elsewhere. An egalitarian arts and culture policy is critical to our region's future well-being.

TRANSPORT CYCLING In London, further investment in cycling of £17 per person annually has been announced. To reach the targets set in the West Midlands Cycle Charter the top recommendation of funding - £20 per person - would be needed. The scheme proposed from Selly Oak to Birmingham's city centre, via the A38, and from Perry Barr to the city centre, via the A34, would be a good start. Creating ‘best practice’ cycle routes, which prioritise, protect and encourage more trips to be made by foot and by bike should be a priority.

The essence of our approach must be to utilise congestion charges, toxicity levies, workplace parking charges, and employer workplace location levies to fund a major expansion of public transport, owned publicly. A renewal of the bus fleet by redesign, with a shift to electric power and cheaper fares, with an expansion of rights to concessionary passes, if enacted, followed by serious traffic management, ought to see significant modal shift what does this mean? and a massive improvement in air quality, no doubt especially of interest to cyclists!

But perhaps there is also scope for renewed production of bicycles in the region most associated with their origins?!

THE SWIFT CARD SYSTEM Transport for West Midlands electronic ticketing scheme, like the Oyster card in Greater London, is an important step forward. Rather than being a single card, Swift covers a range of travel cards under a common name. Bus operators were not especially swift in their acceptance of the scheme during its early roll out. National Express West Midlands only began accepting pay-as-you-go Swift cards in September 2015, almost three years later.

Contactless payments need to be accepted on the system but this can only come with powers to set standard bus fares.

The system is important to being able to widen the range of discounts. For example, the Mayor could do a deal with women’s refuge centres to provide emergency travel passes to those who have had to leave their homes suddenly and who may not have access to all the resources they once had. Job Seekers could be assisted. Food banks supplied with emergency cards to aid those who had to walk for food to carry the supplies back home more comfortably. The Mayor could offer to negotiate with HMRC to permit the provision of Swiftcards not as a benefit in kind, starting with local authority employees, in return for agreeing not to bring their personal car into the centres of the seven boroughs, or across them.

TACKLING ROAD CONGESTION Car travel is the key factor in road congestion. This is not just a problem for the WMCA area but for the whole region. Every day there are over five million car trips in the West Midlands. The sheer volume of car use challenges us to ease congestion and manage parking to create a greener and safer West Midlands – one where we can encourage walking, cycling and a greater use of public transport.

Essentially, making public transport cheap, available, and attractive will wean large numbers away from using their car. What's called modal shift, in the jargon. Once that's under way, tougher measures on using the car, regulations,

i nf r a st ru ct u re , v eh ic l e l ic en si ng , a nd t a xat io n ch an ge s, Making public transport less polluting will be funded by this approach.

w il l

ha st en

t he

s hi ft .

The outcome will be fewer cars on the road, less pollution and congestion. Physical road space priority will be given to public transport. The car should be used less for travel to work and more for social and family activity, such as holidays. Car sharing is an important facility in this regard.

Communists think that the supremacy of individual rights, for example to use a polluting vehicle in the conditions whereby air quality near our schools is so toxic that it breaches health and safety laws, must be mitigated by the importance of collective and community based approaches to problem solving.

Essentially, there are three key tools that can be used: 1.

Congestion Charging

In London, the single most important contribution to the reduction of traffic and the boost in public transport funding was the introduction of the Congestion Charge. £180 million of this extra revenue is spent every year by Transport for London on improving public transport. Bringing in a congestion charge in the West Midlands will take political will, something that only an independent, fighting mayor can provide.

2.

High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes

Further measures will be needed to reduce the amount of traffic on our roads. By introducing High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes at pinch points during peak hours, the Mayor will be able to encourage both car sharing and more trips by public transport.

3.

Workplace Parking Levy

When Birmingham City Council leader John Clancy ruled out a workplace parking levy, business leaders welcomed this decision with “tremendous relief”. It seems that one word of criticism from the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and the proposal was shelved. As a people’s mayor, Graham will not bend to this kind of pressure. The Workplace Parking Levy will be put back on the table as an option for reducing traffic congestion and encouraging the use of public transport.

One example is the Nottingham Workplace Parking Levy, which brings in £9m a year to be spent on public transport. An annual charge of £334 on employers who provide more than 10 spaces, often to their executives.

This type of initiative, combined with stronger legislative measures to control, limit and eradicate polluting emissions from vehicles, would be a priority, if we are to go beyond the minimal air quality targets set by the current government.

BUSES FOR ALL In the last three decades, bus use outside of London has drastically declined. The West Midlands needs to catch the bus! We cannot hope to reduce car use if we don’t offer a cheap, comfortable, and reliable alternative. The Communist Party has progressive proposals for the West Midlands bus network; we call for the municipalisation of the service to make possible lower fares and much needed improvements. We want to ensure that buses are for everyone, so we propose policies to improve accessibility for wheelchair users and ensure that young people and job seekers can travel.

The Communist Party is the only party fielding a candidate in this election that has always favoured municipal public ownership of bus transport - and has never changed its policy in this regard.

If the Government is genuinely interested in local solutions aimed at delivering the best possible service for all passengers, then municipalisation is the only way. Five big operators dominate the bus market; the country is carved into chunks and divvied up between them. There is no choice but to pay the high fares that these companies charge their customers. Yet buses are still heavily funded from the public purse: in 2015/16 the total public financial support for buses accounted for 41% of overall industry costs – it’s effectively subsidy farming by big business. Private bus companies routinely look for a 13% operating profit margin on its regional bus routes,

and that’s after their local subsidiaries pay-out for market rate plus charges to parent companies, a classic device for asset shifting.

Never let it be said that the big profits of these private bus companies go along with paying their staff generous wages! Later, we will elaborate on how paying a better wage and seeking greater professionalism can be a vital part to our transport strategy. Public money is going to shareholders when it should be going towards reinvestment and lower fares and better wages. We need to be using this money to invest in highway infrastructure that improves bus journey times, and on-board improvements such as better seating, announcements, and Wi-Fi access. Public money should give us all a better bus service, instead of filling the pockets of major transnational conglomerates.

The other parties are talking about developing partnerships with bus companies as a way forward. We believe that this is the wrong route. Any kind of partnership must be a two-way street and enable contracting parties to constructively challenge each other. Above all, they must have no reason to doubt the commitment to the aims of the partnership. The Communist Party doubts the commitment of the board of National Express to the people of the West Midlands – rate of return on capital employed comes first!.

Communists are strongly in favour of the public ownership of buses and always have been. It works well in the ten towns and cities, such as Nottingham, that still retain such ownership. We will fight for the municipalisation of bus services, and provide local opposition to the Bus Services Bill that seeks to “prohibit a local authority from forming a company for the purposes of providing a local bus service”. Polls show that a majority (57%) oppose this provision. It conflicts with the general powers of competence for local councils in the Localism Act 2011.

WHEELCHAIR SPACES ON BUSES The recent legal battle over who has the right to use the wheelchair space on the UK’s bus network resulted in a Supreme Court judgement. Some push-chair users claim they can continue to use the wheelchair space, as the ruling was that bus companies do not have the right to forcibly remove anyone who refuses to move if a wheelchair user needs to travel on the bus. You say baby carriage, I say pushchair, pram, stroller, carry-cot…. wheels, buggies… Whatever you want to call it, there’s no reason for wheelchair users, babies, and mums to clash, even if double buggies now seem to be expanding in size.

But advocating forcible removal of unauthorised users of wheelchair space may mean mothers, children, bus drivers, and members of the public are placed in danger during rows created by a ruling that seemed designed to avoid telling bus companies what to do. The ruling certainly does not give permission to continue using the wheelchair space as a shared space for all but makes clear that the space is what it says it is `on the tin’ - a wheelchair space. Thus, priority for wheelchair users must be guaranteed. Other users should give way to mothers and the disabled.

Yet it’s just not right that bus companies will expect passengers to negotiate between themselves to sort it out.

Nor can drivers be put in an impossible situation. Will they have to stop the bus, open their assault screens, or leave their security cab, to assist mothers to manage their kids and the shopping bags they invariably have hanging on the push chair? And what happens if there’s wheelchair user trying to board and the space is already occupied?

The wheelchair space on most buses is often just about right to facilitate most wheelchairs but these are increasing in size all the time.

Not all wheelchair users can currently travel by bus. If their wheelchair is too big or too heavy, they are barred from travelling. We need a new space on bus fleets designed for all citizens.

Electronically driven wheelchairs mean that manual handling is now minimal and the severely disabled can use them to get out and about. But mobility vehicles are harder to obtain and many Ring-and-Ride services are being curtailed due to spending cuts.

The answer is surely to redesign buses and, while we are at it bus shelters too. Timetables should ensure that buses have plenty of room for everyone, and that when one is full another will be along shortly.

All this is down to bus companies, regulatory authorities, and elected governments. But what can we expect from a government committed to business? Maybe it’s time for bus workers and disabled and women’s organisations to get together to win a system that works for users and is not managed just for profit margins and shareholders?

Mums, bus drivers (especially female drivers) and the disabled could form a powerful lobby! As West Midlands Mayor, Graham Stevenson would be right there with them.

FREE BUS TRAVEL FOR SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS AND JOBSEEKERS Young people need a decent start in life. The young need to be able to afford to travel to their schools and colleges; jobseekers need to be able to travel to find work and attend interviews. Graham would work to provide free public transport for full-time students aged 16 to 19, as a start towards moving to all free scholar passes by the end of his term. He would also seek to make agreements with other large conurbations (London, for example) on enabling Jobseekers to be allowed to travel free on each other’s bus networks.

We need to ensure that our bus services work well for all who rely on them.

SERVICE STANDARDS ON THE ROAD AND IN THE GARAGE As Mayor, Graham Stevenson will seek a fairer deal for all West Midlands bus drivers in return for their professionalism. This will impact of the number and quality of jobs and even stretch into the motor mechanic sector and ultimately lay the basis for a road transport training board, encompassing taxis, private hire, and lorries.

A minimum wage rate for all to be agreed between the Mayor, the bus companies and the unions. We will also end the unfairness of drivers being paid less, simply for working for a different company. A new system will seek to ensure professional drivers can swap between companies without loss of seniority.

A new WMCA training and standards centre for passenger industry skills located in the Black Country will recruit trainees from every segment of the community, especially the young, with a view to initially building quality driving skills. Phase 2 of the project would focus on achieving a high standard of bus engineering skills, which could further develop to aid an explosion in motor mechanic training, linked to new environmental standards.

Using the powers of the Mayor to improve public transport can also be a catalyst for addressing the 30 years of neglect of occupational skills training. Linking a Metro Skills Project with the new Apprenticeship Levy, which will fund new apprenticeships by charging 0.5% of an employer's payroll over £3 million a year. Each employer will receive an allowance of £15,000 to offset against their levy payment but this is a tiny minority of employers who are being directed into this course.

Some of the big employers, such as JLR recognise this and have registered with the new approach. Others are badging their normal training as apprenticeships. Contrary to the cultural experiences and impressions of the older segment of the population, most the apprentices in recent years have been adults. Many Further Education colleges could do more to engage with the many small businesses that will be eligible for grants. Then there's the issue of apprentice pay rates.

The funding of good quality, long, especially technical training is critical. But some FE colleges appear to be being excluded on first application, although campaigning against this and the sheer failure of the likely system seems to have triggered a government U-turn – again!

BUS DRIVERS’ PAY For many years, the pay of bus drivers has been set in isolation by the private bus firms. This has led to large variations in pay between drivers employed by different companies, despite their similar level of skill, experience, and the demands of the job. A new starter minimum wage of £23,000 for drivers working across all the bus companies in the West Midlands should be established. Finally, when workers move from their current employment to another bus operator, they should have their experience and driving record carried over, without having to go on a lower new starter rate. This will form an enhanced reference for their new employers and enable employers to bring drivers into relevant local pay structures reflecting their experience.

A region-wide pay structure for minimum levels of pay based on one years’ experience and above could be considered as a good start to establishing a new West Midlands minimum guide rate for all. As for the bus and tram sector, a Communist Mayor would also work with Unite representatives and the bus companies to better support the progression of staff and recruits through to management and other industry positions. Paying drivers a decent wage will mean they do not have to work long hours, thus making safer travel and also creating more jobs.

The whole West Midlands needs to address under-representation issues by adopting an equality and diversity programme that creates a working environment that fully represents the diversity of our people at every level.

Such a focus in direct and contracted WMCA employment could be the start of a new workplace culture in all sectors in the region BETTER RAIL SERVICES FOR THE PEOPLE The Communist Party continues to call for the nationalisation of the railways. The government has effectively handed over the planned HS2 line to the owner of the West Coast Line franchise. The £50bn project is being paid for by every taxpayer in Britain, and we believe that means that everyone should be able to afford to travel on it.

Taxpayers, many of whom are low paid, are subsidising the likes of Sir Richard Branson, who charges sky-high fares on the West Coast Line. Expensive ticket prices mean that rail travel is no longer an option for many.

Britain needs a new high speed network, but it can only be fair, efficient, and accessible if is part of national, publicly owned service.

Proposed ‘Rail Devolution’ would pass control over the specification, management and, in some cases, the procurement of certain rail franchises to local bodies. The proposal for a devolved rail network in the wider West Midlands region has considerable support. [1]. Given the democratic links, this clearly has the potential to ensure widespread local involvement. While franchising still leaves a lot to be desired, devolution offers an important step towards ending the decline of rail as a contribution to a growing economy. The London Midland franchise is due to be renewed in 2017. The West Midlands Rail Partnership are seeking a greater level of control and influence over future franchises in their discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport. (This has emerged from a partnership of 14 local authorities including Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Northamptonshire, Sandwell, Solihull, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Telford and Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton, and Worcestershire.)

It is important that these discussions deliver improved outcomes for passengers. There are active campaigns to open closed stations and lines, such as the Stourbridge Line User Group’s call for the restoration of a rail passenger service from Stourbridge Junction to Dudley. As Mayor, Graham would seriously consider three Change number options: 1 . A Metro Service from Brierley Hill to Wednesbury linking up with the existing Line 1, to provide through services to Wolverhampton and Birmingham.

2 . A tram or train service from Stourbridge Junction to Walsall.

3. A heavy rail service from Worcester to Lichfield providing an alternative cross-country service. Reinstating this route would benefit both passenger and freight traffic. It would reduce road congestion and have the potential to make the controversial 'Brownhills Eastern Bypass' unnecessary, whilst allowing rail freight to bypass congested Birmingham and potentially remove heavy lorries from the roads.

4. Opening the Camp Hill Chords rail line to passenger as well as its currently dominating freight role could be vital for commuters to and from the south side, linking Moseley, Kings Norton and Kings Health with Curzon Street and Birmingham New Street. Investment to link to Moor Street would be very positive.

5. A Sutton Park line and much more ambitious Midland Metro system and spur developments will be critical to the work of the Combined Authority. The extension of the “Nuckle” line in Coventry and Warwickshire to Nuneaton rail should go beyond an upgrade to directly linking Nuneaton to Leamington Spa. New stations at the Ricoh Arena and Bermuda Park and lengthening at Bedworth are good but can always be improved upon and speeded up, whilst we need to see much more of this right across the region.

Linking all these developments, especially Camp Hill Chords and the Nuckle to HS2 is vital. Rebuilding stations at Balsall Heath, Moseley, Kings Heath, and Kings Norton would be critical to boosting the local economy. As would running trains on the Northern Arm of the Camp Hill Line to Tamworth via Fort Parkway, Castle Vale, Water Orton, etc. Reopening rail lines would go a long way towards improving public transport and tackling rail overcrowding.

THE M6 TOLL ROAD The West Midlands desperately need to make better use of the M6 Toll Road. Taking this into public ownership could help avoid critical delays that will become commonplace if a start to improvements to the M6 and M5 take place. But we should not fritter away the leeway nationalisation will bring. Massively improving public transport across the region and discouraging car use should help.

But, instead of meeting the £1.9 billion price to allow the lenders that originally backed the project to fully recover their money, a UK government bond could be issued – if the Treasury were willing to act with the WMCA. In the same way that 3% Treasury Stock was finally redeemed in full in May 2015, after being issued in 1946 by a Labour government to finance the nationalisation of the Bank of England, after taking the M6 Toll into public ownership, the Treasury could issue such bonds to the current owners with a guarantee to redeem all outstanding debt within, say, 50 years. Registered holders of the stock would not be able to trade holdings but successive governments could apply an option to redeem stock at periodic intervals some years from now. A gilt registrar could contact all registered holders in due course to decide redemption payments.

Graham Stevenson says: “I am familiar with the ultimate owners of the Toll Road and its subsidiary, Macquarie Atlas Road Group, from my dealing with the transport sector in Australia. MQA’s strategy is to deliver value of its portfolio for security holders, investing in global infrastructure assets that generate stable cash flows and offer long-term performance through economic cycles. Macquarie Infrastructure Group has 11 toll roads across seven countries. Having now restructured into two separately listed companies; Intoll and Macquarie Atlas. The latter continues to be managed by Macquarie, Intoll was acquired in full by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board only a few years ago.”

It should be clear that this the Toll Road is a failing enterprises, especially after Macquarie departed from ownership in December 2013 following debt restructuring. The Treasury and WMCA should feasibly negotiate a deal offering security for investors, including the 27 lenders of finance for the M6, including major banks such as Crédit Agricole, Commerzbank and Novo Banco, which now has control.

But key to this would be to accept that the banks’ preferred strategy is not going to be acceptable to the public purse. Vehicle use of the road is significantly below hopes and revenues are too low. The 27-mile stretch of road, intended to ease congestion on the main M6, charges cars up to £5.50 and lorries up to £11.

Achieving public ownership should not see more good money going after bad. We oppose toll roads in principle so, once residual immediate costs after bond issuing are resolved, the road should be opened to all to enable significant upgrading to the M6 and M5.

HOUSING CRISIS DESPERATE NEEDS Far too many of us are priced out of home ownership. There has been a national shortfall of 45,000 houses not built during the last five years, with 18,000 of those required in Birmingham alone. 80,000 new homes are needed by 2031 to accommodate Birmingham’s growing population. These homes are simply not being built. Last year, fewer than 12,500 homes were built across the West Midlands – far fewer than that required to accommodate the 19,000 new households formed in the region each year.

And few of us can purchase the few homes available on the market. The typical mortgage is now only available to those earning upwards of £45,000 a year, while the local average salary is well below the national average of £25,000 – a typical mortgage of £200,000 is almost 8 times the local average salary.

This leaves more people living in private rented accommodation where the monthly rent stands at well over £600 in some areas (and it’s even higher in central Birmingham). Private tenants spend an average of 43% of their income on rent and their numbers are increasing; the 2011 census showed that 3.5 million people were privately renting – almost double what it had been ten years earlier.

As more people move into the private rental sector, improved regulation is vital to guard against abuses by private landlords. It is not acceptable that so many are forced to live in sub-standard dwellings or subject to unfair terms and conditions. In the social rented sector, things are also getting worse. The proposed removal of the automatic entitlement to housing benefits for 18 to 21 year olds is deeply concerning. For many young people, remaining at home simply isn’t an option – there is rising homelessness and a total absence of affordable housing.

In 2016, we saw another net reduction in social rent homes. These types of lettings have reduced by over 20,000 in the last two years. This reflects the obsession with home ownership shared by all governments over the last forty years, which has led to a sustained attack on social housing.

These are issues on which the Communist Party is campaigning at a national level. However, at the regional level there are several measures that a progressive mayor could take to alleviate housing problems.

LAND SUPPLY & TREES Above all, we need to build an economy that works for the wellbeing of people and the environment of the West Midlands. Creating a low-carbon, high-efficiency region that respects nature. There is now much scientific support for the benefits of reversing the dis-encouragement of trees and wildlife in our cities. The human health benefits, support for air and water quality and management as well as the more obvious benefits for wildlife are all part of the picture.

No development should challenge the heritage of long established woodland. Access to green space, such as woods and trees, can improve physical and mental health. New housing developments should have a very significant part of devoted to trees with funds set aside for care and maintenance. A well-planned expansion of tree cover must be vital to new infrastructure development.

Graham Stevenson says: “One of the most refreshing aspects of this campaign has been the level of care and commitment shown by so many individuals and organisations for environmental concerns.

I have pledged to support organisations and partners such as the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trusts, who have developed a shared vision for the natural environment of the West Midlands Combined Authority. This will enable long term decision making, and management, governance and monitoring of the natural environment to safeguard it for future generations.

“I agree fundamentally with the importance of accessible woodland and trees for all citizens, and the benefits for individuals, climate and biodiversity. Within the planning remit of the combined authority mayor, I would ensure all proposed developments are scrutinised at the planning stage.”

These should: · Protect existing trees and woodland, and establish where preservation orders exist they are enforced, and designate other green areas as integral to habitable spaces. · Ensure sufficient green space is incorporated into plans, and enable long term planning and maintenance for at least 20% site coverage of trees. · Encourage local involvement for community groups and schools, to ensure continued public awareness and ownership.

“I fully endorse campaigns which keep ancient woodland in the public eye, and would ensure this is clear in all dialogue with local authorities and business developers. Although the WMCA mayor is not able to directly enforce local authority actions under current powers, I would use my influence to keep the protection and preservation of ancient woodland and trees firmly on the agenda.”

Projects such as HS2 Ltd need to be made accountable at each stage of planning, diverting tracks via tunnels, for example, and I would seek to draw on any legislative powers to make this enforceable.

Trees and woods are health improvers - mental ill health accounts for 23% of the total disease burden on the NHS, and accordingly any initiative to support the use of green spaces by health practitioners and social care bodies is to be encouraged.

“I would willingly champion the health improvement characteristics of trees and woods for all in the West Midlands, and encourage incentivised schemes to visit parks and woodlands. I would welcome and support a 21st Century Clean Air Act, and if elected, would work to ensure that mandatory Clean Air Zones are extended to major conurbations across the West Midlands, and look to implementing responsible practice via a series of fiscal and legislative actions. This would need to be combined with a workable public transport infrastructure, publicly funded and owned.

As part of this proposal, the planned expansion of tree coverage within new developments would be a major factor. As mayor, Graham would work with any organisation that shares a goal of a cleaner, greener West Midlands. This is a global problem, but we can act locally to promote an environmentally sustainable region.

Development and industry should not be about short-term profit at the expense of long-term human need.

We need to actively embark on reforestation programmes, working with schools, businesses and community organisations, to focus public attention on continued regrowth and the essential renewal task ahead. If elected, our candidate would draw on the available research into bio diverse industrial practices, to ensure standards are being met locally. And: … if elected, I pledge to plant a tree on my first day in office.”

A sustainable vision must deal with the crisis of polluted air – which contributes to so many early deaths and the loss of hundreds of millions of pounds to the economy each year. The future must be a low carbon, clean and renewable energy based economy.

Many developers have paid retainers for land that they speculate may become available for development in some future strategic plan. Land availability is a challenge. There are further problems in that developers do not want to use land for social housing. Take the Longbridge site in Birmingham, originally with a promise to build more than 20% for social housing. This figure has now been reduced and currently it stands at less than 5%.

There does need to be strategic greenbelt between conurbations, but 'high rise' development that avoids the mistakes of the 1960s could be possible, with sensitively built blocks, both in design and scale. Furthermore, the amount of accommodation over shops is considerable and this needs releasing. Finally, there is a case of re-shaping town centres where there will be less retail and more housing.

The WMCA could create conditions for a new wave of action to meet the housing crisis. Local government has used compulsory purchase orders to acquire land (although many councils have simply acquired land to pass it on to another private owner!). Compulsory purchase is complex and not without difficulties - the courts have declared that no citizen is to be deprived of his land “unless the public interest decisively so demands”. As Mayor, Graham Stevenson would make it clear that the balance must be resolved in favour of those needing shelter.

He says: “When I was born, we lived in a derelict cottage in Coventry. By the age of 6, we moved into a council-provided home. You’d think we’d won the pools … well, lottery now. The real solution to the homes crisis is a large-scale council house programme.”

The West Midlands is dominated by long-derelict land awaiting development. It is often waiting for a developer to seize the right moment to make a large profit from building luxury homes. This is land currently going to waste.

Let’s work to convert the sites into new communities of modern social housing like that seen across Europe.

Housing that is affordable, secure, and environmentally sound. We need a mass programme of council house building and renovation in the West Midlands.

COUNCIL MORTGAGES Sandwell Council has proposed an interesting scheme to offer 95% mortgage loans on new-build properties for first-time buyers. We believe that such a scheme, run jointly across the West Midlands, is something worth considering. Indeed, holding these properties as security (albeit with sitting mortgages), would be a useful hedge against risk and maybe enough to attract developers seeking a steady rate of return.

A similar scheme is under way in Manchester, with each local authority able to specify the criteria for those who qualify for a mortgage. If an applicant meets the criteria, the council will underwrite up to 20% of the mortgage, allowing the buyer to obtain a 95% mortgage on similar terms to a 75% mortgage – but without the need to provide the substantial deposit usually required.

The concept of combining publicly owned land with development finance from an institutional investor to provide new homes could be discussed in detail with the West Midlands Pension Fund. This is one of the UK's largest pension funds, managing and administering the pension interests of former and present local government employees. Managed by the City of Wolverhampton Council, all WMCA members are involved in the Fund. A housing investment strategy could be ideal for all parties as a secure investment for pensioners and deferred pensioners and as an example of positive emerging practice. These are interesting initiatives, which as Mayor Graham would seek to take forward and develop with local councils.

HOUSING CO-OPERATIVES Housing co-operatives are a novel solution which offers rented homes to families, couples, and single people in need of decent housing at affordable rents. Anyone who accepts a tenancy must become a member of the cooperative and can enjoy rents like those of a Housing Association. Such bodies have the benefit of being controlled by their members (sometimes living in small estates, or a group of streets). Co-operative membership entitles tenants to a say in how the co-op is run, and a vote for the members of the Executive Committee. Some cooperatives have open waiting lists; most take nominations from the local council. As Mayor, Graham Stevenson

would welcome working with any housing co-operative that: · sets rents at a level that is both affordable and provides sufficient income to maintain and manage their properties; · protects tenants from eviction, subject to standard norms of conduct, especially to others; · recognises trade unions and provides decent terms and conditions for their staff; · retains ownership of the homes with no right to buy. · offer a progressive solution to homelessness and unaffordable rents A Communist Mayor would ensure that the WMCA has a positive attitude towards housing co-operatives and is willing to work in partnership to help meet the region’s housing needs.

REGENERATION Vast sums of public and private money are being spent on transforming city centres. In Birmingham, a Professor at the City University has recently criticised the council for concentrating on schemes like Snow Hill and Paradise Circus, where the developers can make the biggest profits, to the neglect of inner and outer suburbs where there is a greater need for more homes, for suitable jobs, for better amenities. The tendency to concentrate efforts on the centre of Birmingham will be exacerbated by the coming of the new high speed rail link to London (HS2).

The mayor will have the responsibility for promoting regeneration throughout the region. Graham Stevenson would use the powers of the office to ensure that the needs of people and communities are put first and foremost, and that private investment is strategically planned to benefit all parts of the West Midlands, including other major centres such as Coventry.

Social Policies MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY Mental ill health is extraordinarily common and yet still carries a huge stigma, misunderstanding and discrimination.

Mental ill health accounts for 23% of the total disease burden on the NHS yet only 12% of the NHS budget goes onto mental health.

17% (one in six) of us will have a mental health disorder at any one time, usually anxiety, depression, phobia or a combination. A smaller number of us will suffer from more severe disorders such as psychosis, bipolar affective disorder (which used to be called manic depression) or some degree of ingrained emotional disorders, referred to pejoratively as “personality disorders”. These are as much mental disorders as depression or schizophrenia but the very term personality disorder is horribly discriminatory, seeking to place the “blame” on the individual themselves.

One in four of us will suffer directly from a mental disorder at some point in our lives and given these impacts on our families, relatives, friends and colleagues, it can reasonably be argued that mental ill health will impact most the population.

The Governments’ own figures state that mental ill health costs the NHS, Social Care, the economy and wider society up to £105 Billion per annum, and yet claims credit that the NHS currently spends £11.7 Billion on mental health!

Mental health disorder and the Government’s response to it is an indictment of a class divided capitalist society and a fundamental inability to think or plan longer term.

The great majority of mental health disorders will respond well to evidenced and proven treatments, especially if the need is identified and addressed as early as possible in the person’s life. Although not everyone will be “cured”, most people with the right care, treatment and support will be able to be symptom free or at the very least to be able to manage and cope with them to an acceptable degree.

It is completely obvious any additional investment in evidenced based mental health treatments will save many times the cost of that investment, yet capitalism is completely incapable of thinking and acting in such a logical and rational manner.

The Government claims an additional £10 Billion is being invested in the NHS up to 2020 but neglects to mention

the NHS has in turn to cut spending by at least £23 Billion to balance the books and meet costs and demand.

Mental Health Trusts and mental health services are facing disproportionately higher cuts to budgets to pay for the £23 billion.

Graham says: “As Mayor, I will be a ferocious, passionate and energetic champion for all those suffering mental ill health and for the ending of stigma, discrimination and prejudice. I will be an advocate for higher levels of investment in mental health services, especially those for young people who are our future. We need to invest now to protect and enhance the all-round mental health of all people, this is the right and rational thing to do, to reduce the pain and suffering of a significant proportion of our people, to significantly improve life chances and to enable everyone to realise their dreams and talents and contribute productively to society.”

DRUGS POLICY The Communist Party of Britain is on record on the issue of non-prescription drugs as supporting the: Þ legalisation of cannabis Þ supply of clean works for HIV and Hep C prevention. Þ provision of legal supplies for addicts, where it is deemed medically necessary Þ enabling greater legal cultivation by the state of heroin for use in medicine We strongly support drug consumption rooms across the West Midlands, as part of a co-ordinated strategy on health across the boroughs. Providing a safe place to use currently illegal substances under supervision would be a major contribution to tackling the health risks currently associated with using drugs on the streets and in public environments. Most positively in the longer term, it would introduce users to addiction services.

Evidence to support the constructive role of consumption rooms is growing, but there will be those who struggle to accept the valuable part such initiatives can play. However, the alternative is an endless, yet failing, attempt to apply the justice system to what is a health issue. Authoritarian suppression has not worked except to give governments ever wider powers, which are not always used in the field of illegal drug suppression.

Communists oppose the sale of drugs marketed by drug dealers and their gangs in our communities, who we see as criminal capitalists. The existence of an illegal but lucrative capitalist market in drugs is solely based on the scarcity of the desired commodities, which the cartels exploit in a form of capitalist exploitation of farmers, couriers, and others drawn into money-making criminality. We say: end the ability to suck up vast profits and do more to care for the problems arising from addiction.

SOCIAL CARE Though not formally part of the Mayor’s responsibilities, the local authorities of the WMCA will still be managing social care. It is vital that there is co-ordination on the effects of the enforced cuts, supposedly justified by the banking crisis but first agreed upon by the Lib Dems and the Tories, as we may begin to see technical insolvency as councils struggle to weather the financial pressures imposed by central government.

Over a third of a million council workers have lost their jobs due to cuts since 2010. Birmingham Council staffing has halved to 12,000 and will halve again by 2020. Seven years of austerity has meant that children's and youth service are virtually extinct. Rough sleeping has quadrupled, domestic care for the elderly has been massively reduced, so only those with "critical" needs are serviced. Buckinghamshire gets £615 per care home resident a week whilst Birmingham has £436.

Very few councils seem to believe that local government finances are sustainable and an alarming number think they may be in danger of failing to meet legal requirements to deliver core services. When social care is mentioned, this worry appears to soar to positively frightening levels.

Most councils are now entering a phase of potentially breaching statutory duties. Cuts in frontline services that will be evident to the public will follow. With council finances at breaking point everyone is expecting someone to fail.

They are just hoping it won’t be them! With councils selling off land, creatively accounting as best they can, putting up council tax, drawing down reserves and increasing charges for car parks, planning applications, garden waste and the like, something will give.

Despite the lack of a formal role here, the seven boroughs could forge an alliance to demand a better deal. First and fore most we must end the scandal of underfunded care for the elderly.

WOMEN The Communist Party of Britain recognises that discrimination still affects many people in diverse ways and we celebrate the movements that have formed to liberate oppressed groups.

Women in Britain have been disproportionately disadvantaged by the austerity programme inflicted on us all by the former Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government and the present Tory Government. The Women’s Budget Group showed that, in 2016, tax and benefit changes enacted since 2010 would impact on women twice as much as men. Between 2008 and 2014 Britain dropped to 26th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report – a startling indictment of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat record on gender equality.

Working class women make up the largest and most oppressed group of women in Britain. We don’t believe that gender equality can be gained through encouraging a few women into the boardrooms of big corporations, nor through the media focus on a few women entrepreneurs who have joined the male dominated ranks of the capitalist class: this does not alter the day-to-day reality for most women.

That is why the Communist Party supports the National Assembly of Women (NAW), an organisation rooted in the working-class movement. The assembly campaigns on issues such as equal pay, the provision of workplace nurseries, and peace, and we are proud to align ourselves with their aims. Our party supports the struggle of all women by going beyond the call for mere formal equality, and by exposing the economic basis for sexism.

In developing and implementing policies for transport, housing and regeneration, the West Midlands mayor should consult with representatives of the NAW, the Cooperative and Townswomen's guilds, and other women's organisations. This would enable the mayor to identify the impact of all policies on women at work, at home, and in the community, and to ensure that they benefit equally with men, and that their special needs are taken fully into account.

WOMEN’S REFUGES The responsibilities of the Combined Authority Mayor are tightly defined, and do not cover social services, which remain the responsibility of individual Local Authorities. The Communist Party of Britain has consistently and powerfully campaigned against austerity policies and privatisation measures that have reduced funding to these Local Authorities and had a disproportionate and devastating impact on the lives of women and children.

Broadening this out, Communists are committed to using the powers and influence of the Combined Authority Mayor in the key areas of transportation and housing to increase and improve provision which meets the specific needs of women, children and young people. By listening to the diverse needs of women, children and young people in our region, and ensuring that their experiences, skills and abilities can influence the housing and transportation we develop, a Communist Mayor would ensure that provision is more accessible, relevant, affordable and appropriate.

A Mayor, as Chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority, should seek to draw attention to the crucial importance of services such as women's refuges and children's centres. The longer-term impact that quality services for women and children have on the region's social well-being, equality and future economic resilience is vital.

The public prominence and influence which the Government says it expects from the new Mayoral position should be used to spell out these connections between social well-being, increased equality and economic prosperity, and would seek to influence any future investment in the area so that improves the situation of working class people.

The Communist Party of Britain Women’s’ Commission has highlighted that the circumstances leading to domestic violence have historically been shown to be exacerbated in times of economic depression, and austerity. The ongoing attempts to destroy the welfare state, public sector services and local councils have resulted in an increase in reported violence against individuals and property, and disproportionately against women.

Recent changes to benefits have increased family poverty and driven rising numbers into rent arrears, fuel poverty and dependence upon food banks. While millions of women workers are losing their jobs, or being forced to accept low paid, part-time or zero-hours contracts, the closure of 'Sure Start' nurseries, rises in childcare costs and the persistence of gender discrimination by employers force more and more women out of the workplace.

ANTI-FASCISM, ANTI-RACISM The Communist Party considers racism to be a scourge, and we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those groups that

combat race hatred. As an internationalist party, we oppose all forms of racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and Islamophobia. We celebrate the ethnic and national diversity of the West Midlands.

The Communist Party also recognises the link between racism and imperialism: we are proud to have worked beside such groups as the Indian Workers’ Association who have been successful in highlighting the links between colonialism and racism here in Britain.

The Communist Party is appalled by those groups who seek to divide people on the grounds of race or nationality.

We strongly condemn the far-right who set out to exploit poverty, exclusion and alienation to create community tensions. By offering easy and often misinformed answers, the far-right is utterly incapable of improving the lot of the working class; in fact, their racism actively destroys community solidarity.

As Mayor, Graham Stevenson would consult with appropriate organisations to ensure that developing policies have a favourable impact on all ethnic groups.

LGBTQ+ The Communist Party campaigns for equality for all, be they gay, straight, bisexual, asexual, transgendered, transsexual or otherwise defined. True equality will not come through the promotion of a few celebrities in the media, or through empty promises of ‘equality’. Many working-class LGBTQ+ persons still face discrimination in their workplaces, at home and in the community. We celebrate those individuals and organisations who work hard to identify the link between sexuality and class, and to expose how capitalism has a vested interest in sowing division within our society.

The West Midlands mayor can help to promote equality by standing foursquare with LGBTQ+ people and taking account of their interests in all proposals and pronouncements.

EU CITIZENS, REFUGEES, AND ASYLUM SEEKERS The Communist Party stands firmly with all those who have made this country their home. We campaigned for a Leave Vote in the EU referendum, but completely reject the xenophobic attitude of the right. For this reason, we did not share a platform with the official Leave campaign and were appalled by the lies on both sides in the debate.

The government now intends to use EU citizens as bargaining chips. We are quite clear on this issue – if you have made your home here you should have the right to remain. Think of a hospital in your district; can you believe it would continue to give excellent treatment and care without the doctors, nurses, porters and cleaners from a couple of dozen different countries?

This doesn't mean that Communists are in favour of unlimited immigration. Every country has the right and duty to exercise controls over people crossing its borders. Freedom of movement within the EU has been used by capitalist employers to keep down wages in both the poorer countries from which migrants come and the richer countries to which they go. The working-class answer must be to strengthen trade union organisation and collective bargaining among all workers to prevent locals and migrants being played off against each other. And immigration controls should not have a racist bias.

We support the rights of asylum seekers – many of whom have escaped countries where they face torture and execution. Many have families here and have contributed to our society. Many have no contact with their country of origin. The Communist Party opposes inhumane deportation – often carried out late at night by private security firms.

Since the party was founded in 1920, our members have fought against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and antisemitism. We are proud to have stood up against hatred and will continue to offer our solidarity to those suffering persecution or discrimination.

Our vision for a democratic West Midlands – and how the limited functions of the Mayor can be addressed – could be an important step in developing a radical approach to involving the varying communities of the region.

URBAN AGRICULTURE This could be a new area of job expansion, especially if we are going to be adversely affected by the withdrawal of east European labour from the fruit and vegetable producing sector.

Firstly, spending on ethical food and drink products has reached nearly £9 billion, so there is a real interest in

quality. People who buy organic, which is now big business, are often as much interested in the quality as the ethics. Suddenly, it seems, the idea of sustainable and transparent production made possible via a new wave of urban agricultural enterprises, is now upon us.

Secondly, aquaponics-based urban farms producing more affordable fish, salads and herbs in unused city spaces are increasingly looking to be a feasible option. Such indoor growing systems could mean that local shops, hospitals, schools, and restaurants could have their own farm, grow their own food. It’s only just beginning to happen but there’s no reason for it not to become standard. Germany already has a wholesale chain with instore hydroponics providing fresh produce at a competitive price about to go global.

In Switzerland, urban growing system on city centre rooftop tower blocks are producing many tonnes of vegetables. There’s a real need for job opportunities with firms that are prepared to invest in providing opportunities to young people not in education, employment, or training.

Working in aquaponics could work wonders for those with low esteem arising from long periods of being out of work or in dead end jobs. Developing skills in planning crops and monitoring quality could be the answer.

For some the challenges around equality in urban agriculture are simply a reflection of the global food system’s wider issues. Many of those working in the food sector have traditionally been badly paid. It’s not an acceptable irony that the people who produce our food can’t afford good food.

The Combined Authority could work with new entrepreneurs to develop an aquaponics technicians’ training centre for commercial food production that would work closely with many small providers.

FUNDING AND FINANCE WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM? Devolution to the elected mayor and the new combined authority is supposed to widen the range of decisions over which the people of the West Midlands have local democratic control. But local government experts agree that councils can’t be free of central control so long as half their funds come from central government. So, we envisage that the mayor and the authority will soon find themselves obliged to seek ways of increasing income from local sources under their control.

Graha Stevenson says: “There’s no shortgage of money—the problem is who has it!”

At present, such sources are virtually confined to council tax and business rates. The income from these can’t be substantially increased without inflicting hardship and injustice. There needs to be a dialogue in the region about new ways of raising funds for local government services. This mayoral election offers a great opportunity for new ideas to be floated and discussed. The Communist Party has given a lot of thought to this issue. We offer here some radical proposals for all electors to consider.

FAIR TAXES We all must contribute to the costs of running the region. But contributions should be proportionate to our means. So, for Communists the priority is to identify a local tax that bears most heavily on those best able to pay: rich individuals and companies.

Even under capitalism it is possible to devise a tax structure that does not place the entire burden of taxation on ordinary working people and their families. This requires a class-based analysis, which is what is adopted in this manifesto. Fair taxes should be: Þ Redistributive and promote social justice; Þ Reflect ability to pay; Þ Simple to understand, predictable and unavoidable; Þ Compatible with each other and free from legitimate concerns about double taxation; Þ Objectively assessed, transparent, and free from interference by those hostile to the interests of the working class.

Changing the local tax system would of course require legislation. As West Midlands Mayor, Graham Stevenson would seek the support of local councils and communities in a request to the national government to designate our region as an area in which to pilot a fairer system of local taxation than the present council tax and business

rates.

A LAND VALUE TAX The most important change we want to open a debate about is whether it would be useful to replace both council tax and business rates by a Land Value Tax (LVT). This would be much fairer and a lot cheaper to collect. The details might look something like this: 1 Abolish all current property taxes and replace with LVT at an initial standard rate of 3% of the capital value of each site.

2 For owner-occupied residential properties only, replace Council Tax with LVT at an average rate, initially, of 0.85 per cent of the capital value of the land they occupy. This would yield about the same amount of revenue as Council Tax does now.

3 For commercial and industrial properties, replace the West Midlands proportion of the National NonDomestic (Business) Rates (NNDR) with LVT at the standard rate. This would yield about the same amount of revenue as the NNDR does now.

4 For rented properties, including residential, business premises and farmland, remove from tenants the liability to any property tax, because they are not property owners, and charge the landowner LVT at the standard rate.

5 Charge owners of derelict land, brownfield sites, and land banks, LVT at the standard rate.

6 Charge owners of urban agricultural land LVT at the standard rate.

7 For owner-occupied residences with a floor area greater than 300 square metres, introduce an annual tax per square metre above that threshold, at a rate to be determined by an initial survey.

LVT is a tax on the value of land, disregarding any buildings or other structures on the site. The land value of a site is mainly a function of its location (or more precisely, its popularity for whatever reason, and therefore how much it is in demand), and its permitted use as determined by planning authorities. The basic principle of a land value tax (LVT) is that it returns to society the value of land, or economic rent, that society itself creates. As an economy develops, the demand for land in prime locations goes up, and because the supply of land is fixed, its value tends to rise. In the absence of LVT, when land is privately owned, it is the landowners who benefit without having contributed at all to the economic growth and infrastructure provision that have led to the rise in land values.

Perhaps 20,000 families – about 1% of the Midlands’ population – own most of our land, including some of the most valuable sites.

Over the years, or even centuries, they have accumulated vast amounts of capital through renting (or hiring) out land and from capital appreciation arising from other people’s work. The introduction of LVT would begin the process of redressing this gross economic injustice.

Small-scale landowners, especially people who have bought their own homes, may also gain a notional economic rent. But the banks that lend the money to enable working class people to make such a commitment benefit much more. Consider the huge escalation in property prices – or more precisely, land values – since deregulation of banking in the 1980s. This escalation was due to the economic demand created by the uncontrolled expansion of credit. This has vastly increased the amount that people must borrow to acquire a home. And this in turn has meant that the revenue banks have been able to collect in interest on home loans has multiplied many times over.

This represents an appropriation by the banks of economic rent from land on a huge scale at the expense of everybody else. The introduction of LVT would begin the process of ending this exploitation.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BENEFITS OF LVT One effect of a land value tax if applied at a relatively high rate, say 3 per cent, would be to reduce substantially the market price of land, and therefore property, because the price would be discounted by the annual outlay of LVT. This would make the purchase of homes much more affordable, and less economic rent in the form of interest on home loans would disappear into the coffers of banks.

For owner-occupied properties, LVT could merely replace Council Tax. This would make little difference to property prices, because they would already have been discounted by the annual outlay of Council Tax, which would be the same if the outlay on LVT was the same. It is proposed that initially the rate of LVT on domestic properties be set at the level at which the LVT revenue is the same as the present Council Tax revenue.

It is also suggested that all other land with potential to generate income be taxed at the standard rate – that is, 3 per cent of the capital value of a site. This would include derelict land and brownfield sites, and land banks owned

by the big house builders – which would act as a major incentive for the owners of such land to develop it as quickly as possible in line with prevailing planning regulations.

Finally, LVT would be levied on urban agricultural land, which is currently untaxed. The end of EU agricultural subsidies will mean that less money is fed into big landowners’ bank accounts, leaving more for investing in the actual production process.

Public services such as the NHS and state education, public parks and open spaces, and land used for other public amenities, generate no income and would be zero rated and therefore pay no LVT, because by law the land could not be used for any other purpose.

A BUILDINGS TAX It is generally supposed that LVT obviates the need for any buildings tax, which, apart from anything else, acts as a disincentive to invest in building to make the best possible use of the site (subject to planning consent). Moreover, because of their hugely varying characteristics, it is harder to value buildings than land (LVT can make use of computer aided assessment techniques and geographical information systems).

Nevertheless, there is still a case for taxing high value owner-occupied residences. It is proposed that such residences beyond a certain size – say, 300 square metres of development, which would include outhouses, stables, swimming pools, and the like – be taxed per square metre above that threshold, at a rate to be determined following an initial survey. This tax would be in addition to the land value tax. Clearly, most people would be unaffected by this measure, which would only be of concern to the very wealthy.

OTHER LOCAL TAXES We have referred in the transport section above to a proposed congestion charge and a workplace parking levy.

These new local taxes are intended primarily to influence people's behaviour – to free up road space and promote smoother traffic flow. But of course, they would also raise more revenue for local services – in a fair and equitable way.

DECENT WORK AND DECENCY IN LIFE TRADE UNION RIGHTS The law needs to change quickly and significantly. Communist support the Manifesto for Labour Law, recently developed by the Institute for Employment Rights. It offers 25 major policy recommendations for consideration. It proposes changing the way in which working conditions are regulated by embedding the voice of workers at national, sectoral and enterprise levels. It moves responsibility for workplace regulation from legislation to collective bargaining. It calls for a Ministry of Labour and a National Economic Forum; sectoral collective bargaining; the repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016 and the introduction of fundamental and enforceable rights for workers. A Communist Major would actively campaign in favour of the Manifesto, trying to work with other combined authorities to avoid low wage labour competition to be the measure of differing approaches to regional development. .

A LIVING WAGE In efforts to improve living standards all round, the mayor and the combined authority can give a lead to all public and private employers in the region. As Mayor, Graham Stevenson would ensure that all staff working for the mayor and for private contractors engaged by the mayor are paid a living wage of at least £10 an hour.

The official government reports on the wider region of the West Midlands states that, in 2009, value added per worker each year was £48,600. It’s probably over £50k pa now. The average £ 5 0 9 , £24 468 a bosses took v a l u e the workforce. That's a rough measure of the inequality and exploitation.

the average gross weekly wage was equivalent to year. So, the £22 000 of the produced by

Not only will a Communist Mayor lead by example, ensuring an immediate £10 an hour minimum applies to all WMCA employees and contractors. This would see at least one-third of all workers enjoy an overnight uplift, which would be massively beneficial to the region’s economy by stimulating demand.

Additionally, the commitment on a negotiated minimum annual salary for the region’s busworkers would set a standard for others to follow. We would also enforce equal pay through compulsory pay audits wherever we can.

But this must be only the start.

Article 23 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human rights states that "Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring an existence worthy of human dignity." What constitutes low pay is not seen as a fixed monetary measure but is defined in relation to the level of earnings in a country and the level of income that is deemed necessary to provide for a household's basic needs. Definitions of a decency threshold tend to fix this as the equivalent of two thirds of median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees, median meaning what many of us mean when we say “average”. But averages are composed of highs and low.

Graham Stevenson says: “I have heard candidates describe the `average wage’ in the West Midlands to be in the high 20s or annum. And the Mayor’s salary, at three times that level, as `not excessive’ - but it is excessive. The two-thirds definition would put a reasonable minimum yearly salary on around £539 a week last year, excluding overtime hours, for all workers.

Whatever the Mayor’s salary—and I would taken none if elected being in possession of a pension—this is a valuable definition for minimum pay, backed up by evidence from key studies into poverty. Although excluding self-employment, which in a bogus form now dominates some sectors. It is clear that no full time worker should go below £20k a year and that most qualified and highly skilled workers are receiving some £30k a year at best. A salary of almost £80,000 a year would put a Mayor as part of the rich 10%.”

A Communist Mayor would seek the partnership of a progressive Chancellor of the Exchequer to review how to establish a fair and equitable median earnings level across the region. If necessary, negotiations to revise the West Midlands Devolution deal would be proposed. For we need more from a national progressive government, which should: Aid the redistribution of wealth from the rich and big business to working people and their families, with local taxes on toxic emissions, workplace parking, and congestion.

The Mayor would need to work with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to consider how Job Seekers can be better connected to the world of work; they can also be enabled to gain travel concessions to look for work.

Join with local government to guarantee the triple lock between the state retirement pension and earnings, and ensure this does not fall behind the poverty threshold.

Support a massive programme to build more council homes and sheltered housing, and revise the current benefit system to guarantee continued residence.

Help rebuild manufacturing industry through public investment, accompanied by measures against the export of jobs and capital, and expanding fair trade with all the peoples of the world.

Immediately restore public ownership in the transport sectors of the West Midlands and seek to expand this to others. Using this as a base to expand production of newly designed electric city-operational buses, providing local jobs to local people. Linked with regional tram and train transport and connected to HS2.

JUST FOR BIRMINGHAM? I fear that the developmental model other candidates are speaking about is focused on the notion of a Greater Birmingham. This is far from the conception that Graham Stevenson is proposing.

COVENTRY & SOLIHULL Graham Stevenson says: “As a former Coventrian, with family still in the city, I am distressed at its decline. I think it vital the the city has a direct rail link to the new HS2. This raises the absence of light rail in the city and the need for integrated bus services in all areas and at all times. I have argued for the Mayor doing a deal with LTI, the Chinese owned producer of taxis. Their new plant at Ansty will produce electric taxis. I would like to explore the possibility to move into electric buses designed for road and rail use in the West Midlands. Ultimately, the production of trams, presently bought and brought from Italy would follow.

This would require the massive expansion in training for young people, with local universities fitting into local not global need.

Both Coventry and Solihull will benefit from this.”

THE BLACK COUNTRY & WOLVERHAMPTON There are now some nice business parks and shopping centres in parts of the western half of the conurbation. But most of those using them are not from the most deprived sectors of the sub-region.

West Bromwich and Walsall suffer greatly from under-investment, a lack of decent jobs, and training in real skills.

That’s why we propose to situate a new training facility for the newly expanded public transport sector in Sandwell, with annexes in deprived parts of wider Black Country. The project would be personally led by a Communist Mayor, who would not take a salary for the position . The Mayor’s department would be especially dedicated to developing the Black Country & Wolverhamption Regeneration Project, which would focus on spreading the skills and knowledge acquired by the WMCA and its subsidiary companies to the small and medium enterprise sector. In particular, occupational driving skills would be a focus for a quick delivery of better employability skills. .

FOR ALL BOROUGHS We need to ensure that those in distributive and entertainments sectors do not get left behind by those in new manufacturing jobs, we need fairer employment, with proper contracts.

We are against austerity and cuts, opposing Library closures, reduced leisure services, and reduced funding to social services. We are strongly committed to the NHS and the need for it to be free at the point of delivery.

IMAGINE A NEW KIND OF MAYOR FOR A NEW WEST MIDLANDS Imagine if we all had to rely on the bus. Would we have universal, connected bus lanes, and shelters that really keep us dry and warm? Maybe buses cleaned every day and conductors to ensure rapid boarding.

Imagine we could let our kids play on the streets. Cars would crawl along. No parking on pavements. A clear run for a buggy or a pram and air quality of the kind we associate with the countryside.

Public transport that doesn’t subsidise the private shareholder with a holiday home in the Caribbean but serves the ordinary punter, just trying to get from A to B. Imagine that!

Those who now pollute the air first made to pay for it and then to desist. The funds going towards major investment in buses, which now run from the top of your road, every few minutes, Sundays even, for a fare of a few pence. Interconnections with trams on every major highway, that don't have to share road space with cars and vans. Deliveries timed to suit you, with good wages and conditions paid to drivers and an inter-city freight network based on rail.

Trains running from every local centre to major hubs, owned by us all and managed locally for the needs of the people.

Imagine every young couple, a group of mates, or even a single person, being able to get a decent home at a reasonable cost.

We don’t need to create more problems by giving the task of sorting this out to well-paid bureaucrats and those who got us into the mess in the first place.

Imagine an end to rough sleeping, and a mental health strategy that doesn’t discriminate and permits prescriptions to be easily found.

Imagine decent jobs for all West Midlanders, irrespective of where they were born. Imagine creating new jobs in agriculture, transport, the environment, and new technology, jobs young people will be proud of.

Imagine good quality care for our elderly, that is dignified and does not rob them of their integrity in the dusk of their lives.

USE YOUR FIRST PREFERENCE VOTE TO VOTE GRAHAM STEVENSON, THE COMMUNIST CANDIDATE

ORDER FORM Our History Pamohlets indicate quantity of which editions and return to Communist Party,

Ruskin House 23 Coombe Rd, London CR0 1BD MR/MRS/MS/DR/PROF Full Name(s) ADDRESS TOWN/CITY POSTCODE

Tel

EMAIL: Issue Number(s):

TOTAL

payable to CPB (each pamphlet £1.50 + 50p p&p)

Graham Stevenson-The Communist Candidate for West Midlands Combined Authority Mayoral Election

Donate Now! The effective price for standing is £11,000 almost half of which is so that the Communist manifesto is included in the official booklet to be distributed to all 1.9 million voters in the West Midlands!

Over £7,500 has already come in to the campaign fund, putting us on the ballot paper. Most of our donations are from individuals giving what they can! We are not funded by big business or millionaires but by ordinary people whether it is £3, £30, £300. All donations are very gratefully received.

To donate by post: Please send the below form along with a cheque or postal order payable to Midlands CP To donate by bank transfer: either post the info below or email the same information to graham4mayor@communist-party.org.uk.

Account Number: 50726499

Sort Code: 60 83 01

Via PayPal: https://secure.communist-party.org.uk/graham4mayor MR/MRS/MS/DR/PROF Full Name(s) ADDRESS TOWN/CITY POSTCODE

Tel

EMAIL: Amount

Payment method Post / Bank transfer

Please tick here if you would like to be added to Midlands Communist e-group for info about events and activities.

@MidlandsCommunistCPB

@MidlandsCPB

Graham4Mayor@communist-party.org.uk

Graham4Mayor.org.uk

Promoted by Andy Chaffer (agent) 27 Montague Rd, B21 9DF. On behalf of Graham Stevenson 22 Brecon Rd, B20 3RN. Printed by CPB, Ruskin House,23 Coombe Road, CR0