The government must learn the lessons of the collapse of MG Rover. By Richard Burden First published in the New Statesman, March 31, 2016 Today, Lewis Goodall is a successful TV journalist. I first met him when he was a pupil at Turves Green Boys School in my Birmingham Northfield constituency, well over a decade ago. He tweeted this week about how the situation facing steelworkers in Port Talbot...
Richard Burden MP, Chair of Britain-Palestine All-Party Group has today accused Cabinet Office Minister, Matthew Hancock, of trying to duck Parliamentary Scrutiny for new restrictions on public sector procurement and ethical investment decisions, stating last week’s announcement should have been made to MPs, rather than on a visit in Israel.
The lights are up and anticipation is building for Christmas Day. And so I thought for my final article of the year it would be an apt time to be thankful and recognise the role of community in the area and the importance of standing up for Bournville College’s future. At the very heart of communities up and down the country are local schools and colleges. Bournville College is of course at the...
Today I asked the Chancellor at PMQs about the England Illegal Money Lending Team – based in Birmingham. The England Illegal Money Lending Team is national organisation which investigates, prosecutes and supports victims who have fallen into the clutches of loan sharks. The scheme has helped over 24,000 loan shark victims. It costs £3.6m to run but has got £63million of illegal debts written off...
A number of constituents have been in touch recently with various concerns about the UK Government’s policy towards further and higher education. Students, teachers and parents in Birmingham are rightly angry. The Government’s is scrapping University maintenance grants for the poorest students, rewriting the terms and conditions of student loans, and now there are concerns over Government...
On Monday I was at the Birmingham launch of Living Wage Week 2015 where the new rate for the Living Wage outside of London was unveiled - rising from £7.85 per hour to £8.25 per hour. When I say "Living Wage", I mean the real one - a figure produced from independent research into what people in the UK need to get by. It's not about luxuries. It reflects the real cost of living taking into account...
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.