SPECIAL REPORT: An election like no other in Birmingham

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1:03This is a Global Player original podcast. Dancing in the middle of stage with naked men in front of little children. You'd compare yourself to Nelson Mandela? I'm not saying I'd compare, I follow people like that. But you do think you're a great man? Of course. Pretty anti-Semitic to suggest that there are Zionist puppet masters who control the media. The whole media is like that because you try to push a certain narrative. You have people like Jimmy Savile around here and then you're trying to target me? Louis could be several what Jimmy Savile got to do with the Epstein files He was a sign is clear the close friend of Keir Starmer's no, he wasn't of course.

1:36He was no He wasn't that's just a conspiracy. You know, okay, I say the conspiracy everything you say is not

1:46The news agents For those watching know it's not about me what you just heard Was a sound the sound of politics in in Birmingham in 2026. And what you're about to hear in today's special local and national elections episode is how, in so many ways, culturally, politically, economically, socially, the politics of Birmingham in 2026, we think is so likely to be coming for the politics near you, for the national politics of the UK. Welcome to the News Agents. So we're talking about chaos in Birmingham for a very good reason. Or rather not just Birmingham, because as important as Birmingham is, you know, the biggest local authority in the country, huge city and so on.

2:39The reason that it really matters in terms of the potential politics in Britain to come is that Birmingham is a microcosm of the politics of Britain to come. Birmingham is huge and it's deeply diverse and as a result it has every shade, every characteristic, every combination of politics that the rest of the country has in aggregate. So you've got the classic Labour Tory areas, you've got Labour Lib Dem, you've got the rise of the Greens, you've got reform as well at the outer edges and you've also got increasingly, particularly in the city, Muslim areas. You've got the rise of these so-called Gaza independents, what some people call the rise of a sectarian force in British politics.

3:21And you've got all of that, basically a four, five, in some places even six party contests, all being funneled as it will be in the general election to come through the kind of weird machine, voting machine that is first past the post. And you know what you get when you get four, five, six-party contests in individual awards or individual consistencies, you get that chaos. And it's a good microcosm for another reason, which is this is a city which has been Labour-run for a long time now, over 10 years, and it is widely perceived, for lots of reasons you might be familiar with, bin strikes, the city going bankrupt and all of that, Labour is considered to have done a bad job.

4:03Unpopular, incumbent, with its coalition and new political actors gnawing away at its coalition at every edge. Sound familiar? I'm Councillor John Cotton, leader of the Labour Group on Birmingham City Council. Councillor Cotton, these are going to be bloodbath elections for Labour nationally in this city, aren't they? No, I think what we're seeing is a very clear choice of Brummies in this election, between unity and a clear plan for the future of this city with Labour, or frankly division and risk if so-called independence and reform get a foothold. I think it's very clear from the conversations I'm having on doorsteps that people are thinking very deeply about the future of this city and they understand the stakes.

4:39Why does Labour represent unity when other people don't represent unity? I mean, the democratic election by definition is divisive. Why do you represent unity? Unity for what? So, Birmingham is a great and diverse city. It's one of its great strengths. It's only Labour that's offering a programme that speaks to the needs of the people of this city when it comes to how we ensure that the jobs that have been created through the great investment we're seeing coming into Birmingham are shared across every community. And it's also clear that some of those forces out there are forces that want to turn communities against each other.

5:07If you look at the rhetoric that comes from reform somebody like Robert Jenrick I appreciate he was on his transition from the Tories to reform at the time he came to Hansworth and talked about said some quite outrageous things frankly about communities in Hansworth and also we've seen with some of the so-called independence the kind of politics where they turn communities against each other I suppose John I suppose if someone from the outside might look and someone indeed on the inside might look at what's happened in Birmingham and they see a Labour administration which has been in office for over a decade during which time the council has gone bankrupt during which time the city has been paralyzed by bin strikes which were endless and have only recently latterly been resolved a city which frankly is being left in the dust and behind by comparison to what we're seeing in manchester under people like andy burnham and so on and just think why on earth should we re-elect the people under whom this has all happened so there's three things to that firstly the investment picture in birmingham is incredibly bright we've seen record levels of investment coming into this city we've seen growth in some of the biggest cutting-edge sectors of the economy, whether that's life sciences, the creative industries and much more besides.

6:09Secondly, what happened in Birmingham did not happen in a vacuum. We know that austerity wreaked havoc across local government and particularly for big urban areas like Birmingham. Manchester hasn't gone bankrupt. Birmingham lost a billion pound as a result of cuts over that period and we've seen councils up and down the country that have found themselves in difficulty having to issue 114 notices. Thirdly, you're the biggest by far. Thirdly, the Labour Party put me in as leader to address a number of issues that we knew were specific Birmingham problems. Some people have said that Birmingham is sort of ground zero, if you like, for a new type of sectarian politics.

6:46And indeed we have seen independents elected at a parliamentary level in the city. We've obviously got people standing for the council now, Gaza independents. Is this sectarianism? And should we be afraid of it? So Birmingham's great strength has been its diversity and the vast majority of communities in this city live and work and thrive together. You've got people of all faiths and none, you've got people from all sorts of backgrounds who've made their home here in Birmingham. Has the Prime Minister been an asset on the door set? So I think the Prime Minister's had a really difficult hand to play over the last couple of years.

7:17He inherited an economy in crisis, a huge hole in the public finances. An absolutely massive majority to sort it all out. And he's now dealing with a global situation which is incredibly challenging as well. I think the Prime Minister is doing a good job of trying to see through a number of those challenges. And what I'll also say is the benefits of having a Labour government in this city are now being felt in the£651 million that's been put back into the council. Are people on the doorstep saying, oh I think Keir Starmer's done a great job? So you get all sorts of different views around it. Has anyone said that to you?

7:44I certainly have had people say that they rate the job the Prime Minister's doing. How many do you have? Well look, there's a number of conversations that you have on doorsteps and I think it's really clear that people are, when it comes down to it, they're thinking about what's the future of this city. So you can hear from Cotton there another way in which Birmingham politics feels like such a microcosm, to use that word again, of national politics. You've basically got, as I say, an unpopular incumbent without a clear sense of ideological direction, talking in very Starmerite terms about, in Cotton's case, the character of Birmingham, you know, talking about unity over division.

8:20But in an era where kind of identity politics and those really sharp-edged kind of identitarian themes are so strong, the question is whether that really cuts it and whether it just sounds sort of deeply nebulous and inchoate and unclear. And on top of that, you can sort of see Labour struggling to hold on to the sorts of communities in which it had traditionally weighed the votes. specifically as a result of Gaza, Muslim areas, you know, where Labour have dominated and dominated, particularly in cities like Birmingham over recent years. And that gap, that vacuum, whether it's fair or not, has created the space for people, the sort of people, these Gaza independents, who many people, as I say, are talking about as being a sectarian force to rise.

9:13And that's also partly maybe not just Labour's fault. because in so many ways one of the kind of curiosities about modern politics if we're just going to take the question of the muslim vote for example is that in so many ways you could argue they should be natural center-right or right-wing voters they should be the sorts of people who are generally socially conservative pro-business all of these sorts of things you would think that they would be natural supporters maybe of the conservative party but it's a conservative party under Kevin Bainock in particular who are constantly talking about Islamism and questions around Islamism and cultural questions which are alienating these voters and potentially in places like Birmingham alienating them from the Tory party.

9:54Matt Bennett, Conservative Councillor for Edgebaston. Matt, is it going to be chaos in Birmingham after Thursday? Well, it's difficult to say, isn't it? I mean, you know, as far as we're concerned we're aiming to get a Conservative majority and a stable administration. What is Birmingham politics like right now? It feels to me that it's got an edge and it's got a certain sort of characteristics that are unlike other parts of the country. What are we seeing in Birmingham that is a potential portent of other things to go? Well, I mean, in many ways it's not so different from the rest of the country.

10:22There are particular Birmingham issues here to do with the way the council's been administered. Yeah. There are particular issues in parts of the city where I think that Labour has taken the vote for granted for many years and perhaps engaged in some murky, dubious politics. You're talking about Muslim mayors. Yeah, yeah, I am. And, you know, the sort of postal voting scandals we've had in the past, the Klan voting system, they've kind of ridden that in the past. And it's coming back again. It's rebounding on them now. So there is that. When you say that, what do you mean by that? It's rebounding.

10:52What I mean is I think there's a community there that's felt taken for granted and is pushing back against them now. And some of that pushing back in the form of some of the candidates and people that are emerging there, perhaps slightly unpleasant. Why are they unpleasant? Well, you've probably seen some of the rhetoric coming from Ahmed Akhub and I can't remember the name of the other person. But, you know, some of those people, I'm not saying all of the people standing under the independence banner, don't get me wrong. But many of them are, I think, quite divisive, quite just appealing to a particular sentiment that is potentially very unpleasant.

11:32Why is that sentiment and why is it unpleasant? Well, I think it's when you're trying to appeal to people based on religion, based on what religion you follow and where you come from in terms of ethnicity, rather than, frankly, what this should be about, which is about decent services being run by a properly administered council. Now, Labour have made a complete mess of Birmingham over the past 14 years. But isn't it? Just on the question of the Klan stuff, and particularly appealing to certain ethnicities, political parties have always done that, haven't they? Fuck, it's a time of memorial. I mean, the Conservative Party used to be known as the Church of England at prayer.

12:10It's always been true that different ethnicities, different religions have tended to have particular political preferences. Why is that illegitimate for Muslims to do? I think that was a very different time. Well, I think it depends. I mean, the Conservative Party was the Church of England at prayer when the vast majority of the country followed the Church of England. It wasn't particularly divisive. Catholics used to vote for the Labour Party. We've seen the Conservative Party in recent elections have particular adverts aimed at British Hindus, for example, or British Indians. I don't agree with that when that's done, actually.

12:40I don't agree with targeting particular groups in that way. I think in this instance there is some ugly rhetoric, and you don't have to look very far on social media to see where it's coming from. What I would say is, I think you make a relevant point that we need to do a better job of appealing to a lot of these groups. I wouldn't disagree. What I would say is that I myself represent a part of Birmingham that is actually quite mixed. I think I probably represent the most diverse ward that a Conservative represents in Birmingham at the moment. And generally, I find I get support from across all the different communities, because what I do is deal with the issues that matter to them on a day-to-day basis.

13:21I don't try and appeal to them on the basis of their race or ethnicity. I appeal to them on the basis that they're human beings who are entitled to the same level of service from their councillors and from the council as anybody else. That's the way to deal with these issues, I think, to recognise everybody is equal and entitled to an equal service. Birmingham politics has created some characters over the years. As I say, it's a city with very complicated politics. I don't think that there is anyone more colourful, more characterful, to put it at its perhaps most generous, than the man we've already been inevitably somehow circling around.

13:57And it's this guy, Ahmed Yacoub. Now particularly loyal listeners and viewers might actually remember that we ourselves have previously interviewed Mr Yacoub when he was standing in the Birmingham Ladywood constituency at the 2024 general election. Here's a little bit of our exchange where, among other things, I was asking him why he was such a strong supporter of Andrew Tate. You also said in the post, the one person I rate is Andrew Tate. Do you still rate Andrew Tate? Do you still admire him? Let me tell you something about Andrew Tate. Yeah, please do. And why you have to rate him. Now, Yacoub actually came within a hair's breadth of winning in Ladywood, which was at that time one of the safest seats in the country, Labour seats in the country.

14:43He came within 3 ,000 votes of defeating the now Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood. He is not himself eligible to actually stand in these elections, or at least he's not putting himself forward for these elections, I should say, because he is currently involved in a court case involving alleged money laundering. Nonetheless, for every offence is a defence, Nonetheless, he appears to be masterminding the Gaza independent campaign, which looks like it will become a significant force on the council after the local elections. We're on our way to meet him now. We've been told we can meet him. He gave us the runaround last time where we sort of chased him around half of central Birmingham, but I think we probably will meet him.

15:29And he's not just a kind of local, colourful, weird figure, some say a sinister figure. he's also someone who could become quite quickly nationally important because he finds himself at the centre of these campaigns across the country coordinating so-called sort of Gaza independence. But also, I mean, I'm told that there are civil servants, officials in Whitehall who are genuinely really concerned about the outcome of these local elections in Birmingham because it's the biggest local authority in Europe. It's got a budget of billions of pounds and they're convinced that this is the guy who's going to do everything he can to basically put sand in the gears of the administration locally via an obsession, as they would see it, with Middle East issues, Gaza, refusing to work with other parties.

16:11And it is just, as I say, a portent of some of the political, yes, again, chaos to come potentially in this city.

16:21I feel like I'm on The Apprentice here, looking for Ahmed Yakub. I'm to Spartbrook, it's one of the most Muslim areas of the city, of the inner city. Everywhere, everywhere. Look, vote Jamil Khan, independent. These pink posters everywhere. He's just one of them. Not Labour side to be seen. There we go, independent candidate. And this guy, this very unlikely character, is basically running the show. Is this him? Is this him? I can hear a loudspeaker. I think he's coming. I think he's coming. Hello, hello, hello. Hello again, Mr. Yakub. How nice to see you again. Good to see you, man. How are you doing?

17:04I'm all right with you. You've been a busy man. Yeah. Hello. How are you doing? Nice to meet you. How are you doing? You all right? Hello. How are you? Okay, how are you doing? Let's make Sparkbrook beautiful again, it says. Yes. Yes. What are the policies to do that? The policies is accountability. The Labour-run council has made the council bankrupt, and for far too long now other communities have been voting them blindly voting for them this time around we're not going to do that we're voting for independence independence yeah independence what do you mean independence voting for the independent candidates from whom voting for the independent candidates but you say you want it's independence day so it's independence from whom independence oh independent from the political party independence from the rotten council that we've had for last 14 years has been labour run and even before everyone's had enough i think it's also independence from uh for you know certain media channels who are not been pushing our accurate message yeah yeah people like you who are trying to uh send a bad message out making us look like the bad people not yet we haven't even had our interview yet you've tried so many times louis no not at all not I'm a nice person.

18:18I know you are. Should we sit down? Yes, sit down. Sit down, have a chill. Yeah, people parachuted in from different areas. They don't even live in the areas. And they try to represent the areas. Me, Shikain Afsa, when I stood in the general election, we were from the area. The people support us on the ground. We don't need no colour on our necks, you know, political parties telling us what to do. So, Ahmed, tell us, what are your aims in this election? What do you want to achieve? What other aims have already been achieved in this election because we have young people contesting as independent candidates.

18:53That has never happened in the history of UK political, UK history. I mean, you'll get one independence, you know, there and they'll be scattered all over. This is the first time so many independent candidates have come forth and contesting for the elections. Here's one right there, Ray Hanabas is a 22-year-old criminal lawyer. We want to achieve what Labour hasn't been able to achieve for the last 20 years. Which is what? I'm in Park Brook at the moment, then I'm going to Nigel's from here. Don't be like Nigel, because when I debated him, he was like, I have to correct him live on. Let me finish.

19:25What we want to achieve is accurate representation for our community. What we believe Labour has done is they have used nepotism and the Baradhi vote to control our people. You can all see that there's people, bystanders, taking pictures of us. We have the support, Louis. And back to your question. We want to make sure... Do we have any support? Yeah, of course. Thank you, sister. Thank you very much. And pray for God bless you. God bless you. I must listen to myself. You're an inspiration too. OK, thank you very much. You think he's an inspiration, madam? You think this gentleman's an inspiration?

19:55Why do you think he's an inspiration? He is an inspiration. Why? Why? I see this. He's upsetting the status quo. Yeah. For sure. To be very honest, I have seen him, I think, for the second time. In the last election, he's doing a lot. Yeah. To be very honest, it's all over. Why do you think it's inspiration? Why is he inspirational? Why is he inspirational? He's hitting the nail on the head. Some people I've spoken to today are very afraid of him. Yeah, you should be afraid of him. Like we're afraid of reform? No, people hate what they don't know. Why do you think? People are afraid of the truth.

20:34A lot of people think that this is sectarian. So just because we're representing a community as Muslim, I find it very strange that you're trying to arouse that we are secretarian. Absolutely not. We advocate for anyone and everyone. The fact that Labour Party has been using our votes. And we are demonstrating after 2024. But you don't stand in non-Muslim areas, is it? After 2024, Ahmed Yaqub has demonstrated. You don't stand in non-Muslim areas. You don't stand in like Norfield or Longbridge and places like that. Ladywood, we have Gary Cressman standing. It's a place with a big Muslim community.

21:06Deborah Marag, Gary Cressman. I'm just putting it to you The accusation is The accusation I'm just saying The accusation that is put to you The accusation is put I'm just putting it So you can defend yourself From who? The police? From national media From other political parties Who cares about national media? No no The media will have you Believing the people Amen Who are the bad people Are the good people And the good people Are the bad people Who cares about the media? You're only seeking To represent You're only seeking You're only seeking To represent Muslims Okay And that is therefore Wait wait I wouldn't represent you And that is therefore by definition secretarian.

21:41Is it sectarian? Look, we have started our movement with the inner city areas. It is not our fault that these are majority Muslim areas. We are moving out. We are looking to expand our movement. I don't need to explain that to you. From 2024. Why aren't you standing in these elections? No, no, no. I'm asking, why aren't you standing in these elections? Because voting on over 30 candidates. Over 30 candidates. It's nothing to do with the money laundering trial. It's got nothing to do with the electoral commission. I can still stand if I wanted to but I don't want to stand as a councillor So it's nothing to do with the fact that there is a trial in relation to you with regards to money laundering I have many trials, I don't care about the trials whatever happens at the trial, the movement still carries on You don't care?

22:20I don't care about no trial You don't care whether you go to prison? Prison, a chance to converse and be alone He's a state-sponsored acquisition Every great man has been to prison Nelson Mandela went to prison You would compare yourself to Nelson Mandela? Nelson Mandela went to prison and he was called a terrorist before You'd compare yourself to Nelson Mandela? I'm not saying I follow people like that. But you do think you're a great man? Of course. What have you done that's so great? I've challenged the status quo. Nelson Mandela led a 30-year campaign against apartheid. What have you done?

22:51Against apartheid. I've led a campaign against Jewish apartheid in Gaza. In Gaza, in Palestine. Where your puppet masters, the Zionist regime have made the Palestinians suffer under occupation for over 70 years. Who are my puppet masters? Your puppet masters the Zionist regime. You know exactly who me. That sounds pretty... Come on, man. Come on, Louis. Come on, let me come on. Everyone knows we've got puppet masters. We know what you're trying to do. That sounds pretty anti-Semitic to suggest that there are Zionist puppet masters who control the media. The whole media is like that because you try to push a certain narrative.

23:32Do you recognise that that is one of the oldest anti-Semitic tropes in the book. And do you understand why that there will be people who are deeply concerned about that sort of rhetoric? Zionists, the people are happy with the apartheid that's happening in Gaza. That's the only people that can take offence to that. Nobody else, anybody with the answer of humanity cannot take any offence to what I've just said. I want to talk about the Greens. Yeah, talk about them. You're saying here, think in green, think again. Of course you think again. LGBTQA plus and sex education in primary schools do you consent?

24:01I've got five more minutes, you know. That's absolutely fine. You said that the Greens are degenerate Oh, very degenerate Why are they degenerate? You have Zach Polanski You have Zach Polanski Dancing in the middle of stage with naked men In front of little children I'm a father, I don't want my children to be When did he do that? He didn't know Trafalgar Square about a month ago You don't watch the news, do you? Do you understand why a lot of people find that objectionable? I meant degeneracy because Zach Polanski Was dancing with naked strippers In raw daylight That is degenerate You think that you'll be able to catch me out I have run rings around prosecutors and judges, mate.