'There are prostitutes and drug dealing' – MP highlights Walsall street in funding plea
A Labour MP hit out at the murders, drug dealing and prostitution in Walsall as she accused ministers of "failing to invest in people".
Valerie Vaz said a lack of support for local authorities was having a devastating impact, leaving communities short of resources and blighted by crime.
She said there was drug dealing and prostitution on Milton Street in Palfrey, where shopkeepers had told her they were "tired of seeing young people with money in their pockets".
The Walsall South MP used the Budget debate in the Commons to call for more support for cash-strapped local councils.
Highlighting crime in Walsall, she said: "Jack Lowe, who was 18, Bailey Atkinson and Akeem Francis-Kerr were murdered in and around the town centre.
"On Milton Street, there are prostitutes and drug dealing – shopkeepers are saying they are tired of seeing young people with money in their pockets."
Ms Vaz said Walsall Town Hall – which has been closed since the pandemic and could be sold off – was "abandoned", while the former police station on Green Lane was a "pile of rubble" having been closed since 2016.
She said schools were suffering from a lack of investment, with Blue Coat Church of England Academy "still waiting for money to fix its heating", while Labour's Sure Start family centres were "gone".
The MP also called for some of the £70m underspend from the Commonwealth Games to be spent on improving access to Bescot Stadium Station for people with disabilities and parents.
Ms Vaz said: "This Budget fixes nothing in Walsall today."
She added: "In setting out his four Es the Chancellor missed out an E – E for excuses – but so far the country has given him an F for failure. He is failing our constituents, our communities and the country."
