Last week the government voted for an unfair attack on the tax credits and working benefits which millions of people rely on to get by. Many working families are finding things really tough at the moment. They do the right thing, get up early, work a long day, but still they struggle to make ends meet. Many of them use tax credits and benefits to top up their income as without them work wouldn’t …
This Sunday – 27th January – is Holocaust Memorial Day. It marks the 68th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration and extermination camp which is the site of the largest mass murder in history. Holocaust Memorial Day is an important opportunity to remember the victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. I encourage others to mark the day and to join …
It’s been six months coming but this morning the Prime Minister finally made his ‘Big Speech’ on Europe.
I am clear that the EU needs to change and work better for people in here in Britain. But the real tragedy of David Cameron’s speech today is that internal tensions in the Conservative Party won’t let him address the need for change in the EU in a sensible and pragmatic way.
New global development goals to end extreme poverty, improve health and education, and promote sustainability must be simple and measurable.
Today the House of Commons International Development Select Committee, which I am a member of, published a new report on post-2015 development goals.
Last year the House of Commons International Development Committee, which I am a member of, published a number of reports including:
Afghanistan: Development progress and prospects after 2014
Tax in Developing Countries: Increasing Resources for Development
Yesterday there were debates in Parliament covering these two reports.
Yesterday I spoke in a Commons debate on promoting manufacturing in the West Midlands.
You can read my speech below – and the debate in full is available online here.
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.