Aldridge-Brownhills

Wendy Morton, Conservative MP for the Walsall seat of Aldridge-Brownhills, asked the minister what the government and Labour-run Birmingham City Council were doing to bring an end to the strike.

She was first elected MP for the West Midlands constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills in 2015, having missed out to Truss’s rival Rishi Sunak in a bid to become the party candidate for Richmond in 2014.

Walsall councillors paid tribute to the ex-Conservative Aldridge-Brownhills MP, who served the constituency constantly for 36 years between 1979 to 2015.

Councillor John Murray, who joined the Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association in 1979 and worked on Sir Richard's first election campaign, said his belief in democracy made him a leading Euro-sceptic and at times a parliamentary rebel.

"He was fiercely loyal to Aldridge-Brownhills and never one to toe the party line," he said.