Today I was in Longbridge to watch the first new MG6 roll off the production line. This is a real milestone for Longbridge and for the automotive industry in the West Midlands.
Longbridge has been through dark days. Nobody around here will forget how it felt, six years ago this week, when the MG Rover plant closed its doors for the last time and over 6,000 people lost their jobs.
In the light of recent events in Libya and elsewhere, the latest report from the House of Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) rightly questions UK policy to date in exporting arms to Middle Eastern and North African countries where there is a clear risk they could be used for internal repression. The report also has some stinging comments about UK policy on arms sales to Israel. Over …
A new report from the Britain Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group (BPAPPG) has highlighted the widespread detention of Palestinian children, by the Israeli state.
The UK government today announced that it is upgrading the Palestinian Delegation to London to the level of a Mission. You can read the FCO statement online here.
I am pleased that the government has upgraded the Palestinian Delegation and increased their diplomatic recognition in the UK.
Many constituents have been in touch over the last six months with their concerns about the bid by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to take total control of BSkyB.
You may have seen today’s news that Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, has approved News Corporation’s plan to spin off Sky News, clearing the way for its proposed £8bn purchase of the 61% of BSkyB it does not already own.
More than 1,600 internal documents recording the details of Middle East peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine have been published by Al Jazeera and the Guardian. Today’s news reports in Al Jazeera and the Guardian have sent shock waves around the world. Some Palestinian leaders have already challenged some of the claims that have been made and, like most other people, I am in no …
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.