Common cause

Today was a pretty good day in Hodge Hill. At Queen’s Road police station, I heard about the new work of our brand new police team, which has doubled – that’s doubled – police numbers out on the beat in Washwood Heath, and later this afternoon, at Shaw Hill Primary School I got to hear from the school council about how, more than anything else, they want action on crime, reassurance policing and more things for kids to do. When you hear some of our youngsters – no more than 9 or 10 – talk passionately about how they want to see politicians like me get better policing in place it is even more persuasive than any number of letters.

One of the biggest wake-up calls I had as an MP was when i ran youth conferences in all our all secondary schools, I found young people shared the same analysis as their parents of the things they wanted to see changed. They said there was too much crime, too much speeding, they were worried about gangs and wanted more CCTV, traffic calming and visible policing.

The fabulous young pupils of Shaw Hill reminded me of something today. Young and old in our community have some pretty big causes in common.