Reform, the Greens and the Problem of Power

Birmingham’s voters have broken the old machine. Now the new politics has to prove it can govern.

Birmingham’s voters have done the easy bit. They have smashed the old machine. Very satisfying. Therapeutic, even. One imagines a small civic hammer being passed from hand to hand in the counting hall, with people taking turns to land a blow on the old settlement. Labour’s dominance has gone. Reform has arrived. The Greens have surged. Independents matt…