Welcome to my latest Parliamentary newsletter. This covers some of the most recent developments and initiatives I have been campaigning on, including the government’s new local government rules, the No More #BrumCuts campaign and issues within my role as Shadow Transport Minister. Please also have a look at the end of this newsletter where I’ve highlighted people campaigning …
The government must learn the lessons of the collapse of MG Rover. Car-making at Longbridge and steel at Port Talbot and elsewhere are not simply about the economies of those areas. They are about their heritage; about community identity and the prospects for the next generation. A focus on building community resilience was a vital part of the response to the collapse of MG Rover in Birmingham …
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 …
On Tuesday (15 March) I held a debate in Parliament calling on the Government to speak the truth on new anti-boycott rules which many fear represent an unprecedented attack on democracy. The rules, announced last month, by a Government minister during a visit to Israel – without any parliamentary or public scrutiny – aim to ban public bodies including local councils and universities from refusing …
Residents living near North Worcestershire Golf Course who have seen my previous posts or who were at last week’s Longbridge Ward forum will know that I and others have been asking questions about the security of the site. Although North Worcestershire Golf Club remains in existence as the owner of the golf course, it plans to close the site for golf in the Spring. This will be ahead of any …
Thanks to the around 140 local people who came along to the Longbridge Ward Forum. As well as receiving a regular update report on policing issues in the Longbridge area, the two main items on the agenda concerned Parking issues in the roads near the Meadows School and Bloor Homes proposal to build on the North Worcestershire Golf Course site. I thought it may be useful to give residents a quick …
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.