Birmingham Chamber of Commerce has been paid more than #1 million since 1995 to promote the NEC Group.

The disclosure that the city's leading business organisation receives #130,000 a year from Birmingham City Council to talk up the achievements of the NEC sparked a fresh row about the Chamber's support for a super-casino at the National Exhibition Centre.

Chamber members voted to back the NEC casino over a rival scheme promoted by Birmingham City FC.

But the ballot was dismissed as worthless by Karren Brady, the Birmingham City managing director.

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The Government knew Rover was in deep trouble almost a year before it collapsed but the firm's directors refused offers of help, an inquiry has found.

The National Audit Office, the independent financial watchdog, also criticised the Government for spending #6.5million in a last-ditch attempt to save the manufacturer which was never likely to succeed.

The finding is likely to be seized upon by Conservatives, who have accused the Government of using taxpayers' money to prop the company up for political reasons, in the run-up to the General Election last May.

The results of a National Audit Office inquiry into the collapse of the Birmingham car giant.

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A ten-year-old schoolgirl has written a heartfelt plea to her local MP for her mother to receive the life-saving cancer drug Herceptin.

Katie Morgan, from Coton in Shropshire, wrote to Owen Paterson, MP for North Shropshire, asking him to help her mother Susan Morgan in her fight for the drug, after being told she must raise #47,000 for it as a private patient.

The 41-year-old mother-of-four has been refused NHS treatment on the grounds that her case is not exceptional.

In her letter, Miss Morgan wrote: "My name is Katie Morgan. I am ten-years-old, I have two sisters called Lucy, who is seven, and Hannah, who is six, and a sweetest little baby brother, who is 19-months-old.

"I am writing to you because my mum has had breast cancer last year. Please help us. We would like my mum to be here when we grow up."

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Members of the horse-racing community have spoken of their shock after the death of a promising young rider who was found dead at her mother's home in the Cotswolds.

Anna de Lisle Wells, aged 23, is believed to have taken her own life at her mother's stables in Temple Guiting, Gloucestershire, on March 1.

Miss De Lisle Wells, from Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, was a talented jockey who was due to compete in an amateur race at next week's Cheltenham Festival.

She was due to ride Mighty Montefalco in the Christie's Foxhunter Chase, the top amateur race at the festival.

Miss De Lisle Wells, a graduate of Reading University, was crowned West Midlands Novice Champion when aged just 16.

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Cash-strapped health trusts in the West Midlands are to have their Government funding cut by more than #50 million next year.

The budget reductions will add to the precarious financial position many trusts are already in, and could lead to further cuts in services at hospitals across the region.

The financial crisis facing the NHS was illustrated this week when Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt admitted she expected the service would end the financial year more than #200 million in deficit.

Sir Nigel Crisp, the NHS chief executive, announced he was retiring early, sparking speculation he had been sacked.

Hospitals across the West Midlands have already announced a series of cuts, including Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, which is to close two wards and two operating theatres.

Read the full stories in Friday's Birmingham Post