Today is 100 years since the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which gave some women and all men the vote for the first time. It gave the rights of democracy to 8.5 million women, raising the electorate from 8 to 21 million people. The Representation of the People Act 1918 was a vital step towards enabling women to have a say in the way our country is governed. Ten years later the Equal …
I am pleased that a popular bus stop is to be reinstated outside Northfield Shopping Centre. In October Transport West Midlands took the decision to decommission several bus stops in and around Northfield Town Centre as part of a pilot to review journey times on the local bus network. However the suspension of several bus services from outside Northfield Shopping Centre has caused disruption for …
I have been concerned by the damage that has been caused to the grassed areas of ‘Daffodil Park’, which runs alongside the River Rea and cycle route, off Tessall Lane. This has been caused by emergency repair works being undertaken by Network Rail, in liaison with Birmingham City Council and the Environment Agency, on the River Rea to prevent the river from impacting on the railway. Several …
Over the past few months, the Parliamentary agenda has been dominated by debates on the Government’s EU (Withdrawal) Bill which covers not whether Brexit should take place. Rather it covers the terms on which Brexit should be approached by the Government, including how environmental and other protections, together with UK citizen’s rights and freedoms that are currently guaranteed by EU …
Welcome to my latest Parliamentary newsletter. In my first newsletter since Christmas and the New Year, let me wish you all a Happy New Year. Space prevents the newsletter covering all of what I have been doing over the past month. However, hopefully it provides a flavour of some of the local issues I have taken up as well as my actions in Parliament. You’ll find updates on food banks, community …
Every year around 10,000 parents have to face the unimaginable grief of losing a child. Nobody expects to bury their own child and when struggling to cope with the worst possible experience they will ever have to face, bereaved parents have the added worry of finding funds for a funeral they never expected to be planning. No parent who has gone through the heartbreaking experience of losing a …
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.