Several constituents have recently expressed their concern to me about the impact that the abolition of the 10p tax rate has on some people on low incomes. Like many other Labour MPs, I share their concern about this. Neither I, nor most MPs I have spoken to, intended people on low incomes to lose out as a result of the changes to the tax and benefits systems passed by Parliament last year with …
A debate on Global Security in the Middle East took place in Westminster Hall yesterday. The debate followed the publication of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee report on the issue in August last year and the Government’s response in October.
MPs have expressed their revulsion at the mounting death toll in Gaza and called on the international community to take immediate action.
An Early Day Motion (EDM) on Gaza was tabled by Richard Burden MP on 3 March 2008 and has been signed by 68 Members of Parliament.
I opposed the invasion of Iraq but we are right to be in Afghanistan. Sadly, the country remains blighted by conflict in Helmand, where most of the UK’s 7,500 troops are deployed. Many families here in the UK have lost loved ones over there. With no end yet in sight it is understandable that some commentators are now suggesting that we should get out. Understandable maybe, but – in my view – …
Richard Burden, MP for Birmingham Northfield, has welcomed Birmingham’s vision for neighbourhood working but said that there are issues that must be addressed if neighbourhood working in Birmingham is to be the success in practice that it deserves to be. The vision for neighbourhood working is set out in ‘Vibrant Urban Villages’, a Green Paper published by Birmingham City Council and the …
Local communities in Birmingham should be given more power to decide the priorities for their areas. I am calling on Birmingham City Council and other agencies to do more to help them do so. I recently published a paper responding to a City consultation on the future of devolution and localisation in the city – through the development of what Birmingham City Council calls ‘Vibrant Urban Villages’ …
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.