Let Blackburn host the next Cabinet roadshow

10:46am Thursday 11th September 2008

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By Jack Straw »

One hardened Brummie told me on Monday: “I’ve just lobbied six members of the Cabinet, and in 10 minutes made more headway than I would have done in 10 months with letters and emails” .

The occasion was the session with West Midlands regional representatives which preceded the first Cabinet meeting held outside London (or Chequers) since 1921.

The Cabinet meeting itself was nothing unusual. All Cabinets have (so far as I know) always begun with a report from the Chief Whip and the Leader of the Commons on Parliamentary business – what debates are coming up, whether there will be votes, who has to be there.

Then we went on to discuss the key issues affecting the country – particularly the economy, and housing.

These issues are of fundamental importance, and we dealt with them with the seriousness they deserved.

But for sure, as subjects, we could just as easily have discussed them in our normal meeting place, the Cabinet Room in Downing Street.

What, however, we could never have done in Downing Street was to hold that consultation about the West Midlands, about which my hardened Brummie was waxing so eloquently.

Two hundred people from across greater Birmingham, the Black Country, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Staffs were present.

They were of all political persuasions and none, and covered life in the region from business and industry through the health service, local government and the voluntary sector, as well as a number of the local youth MPs.

They, and the Ministers present were split into about 25 tables.

Their job was to talk; ours to listen; and an official at each table was to take notes and ensure follow up.

I guess that some of those who did come along were a tiny bit sceptical when they first received the invitation to attend.

Was this more “spin”? What was the point of it all?

And I confess that I worried that people’s reaction would be just that.

In the event, the day really worked.

All of us Ministers also have our first job, as Members of Parliament for a constituency.

As MPs we ensure that we get around our constituencies, and listen hard.

Few of the things that I heard around my table, or informally – from anxieties about student debt (from one of the Youth MPs) to problems of caring for elderly relatives, and much, much else – were a surprise.

But what made the difference was that the whole Cabinet was there, including the Prime Minster. So the impact of what was said was that much greater.

One of the ideas we discussed at the formal Cabinet meeting was the overall situation in the West Midlands.

There are Ministers with specific responsibilities for each region of England. So the Minister for the West Midlands, Liam Byrne, gave a detailed progress report.

There’s a wider point too about the cabinet meeting.

Every country has to have a capital, where the institutions of the state are concentrated.

But governance is still too London–centric (despite devolution).

And that throws up bad attitudes, like the nonsense in the right wing think-tank “Policy Exchange” report saying more or less that the North of England should be abandoned.

So countering these attitudes is very important – and Cabinet meetings like this week’s can play some part in this.

I’d like the next one in Blackburn, and I’ve told Gordon Brown.

That may be a hard call but Manchester would do as second best.