Crossing the Midlands divide

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 19 January 2009, 20:48

To many people in London the Midlands is just the Midlands. West, East – it’s all pretty much the same. I guess it’s pretty much how the north views the south, or for that matter how the south views the north – entities to be treated as one. Well, of course that is not the case and the East Midlands has a strong and proud identity, even within the trade union movement. The M1 is more than just a road; it is a border – psychological and real.

This morning I was in Derby where I met officers from the East Midlands region of Unite. Much of our focus has been until now on the West Midlands, but the BNP pose just a serious a threat in the East. Indeed, at a local council level we now have more problems in the East Midlands. Among those at the meeting were Regional Secretary Adrian Axtell and Political Officer Nigel Hadfield. I was accompanied by my Searchlight colleague Matthew Collins, who will be leading our HOPE not hate campaign across the Midlands between now and June.

It was a really productive meeting, with a programme of action being agreed that would see us combine traditional workplace and community campaigning with the utilisation on new technology. Most positively, there was a real determination to link the anti-BNP campaign with workplace issues, something that is especially important given the wave of redundancies the union currently has to deal with.

Matthew was even decked out in a suit. Doesn’t he look smart!