Ludicrous. A lottery. These are just some of the terms being used to describe the Government’s approach to roads maintenance, after the Public Accounts Committee issued a damning report into funding arrangements this week. The all-party committee of MPs responsible for scrutinising public spending have concluded this Government’s stop-start approach to roads maintenance funding is wasting …
People from the local Labour Party in Northfield were out with me today in support of the NHS. I say “local” because the Conservative Party are holding their national conference in Birmingham and their London HQ is boasting that they are going to bus large numbers of people attending the conference from different parts of the country down to Northfield on Sunday afternoon. Their job …
Ahead of the recall of Parliament tomorrow, I want to update local people about my view on IS and the current situation in the Middle East. Like many British people, I opposed the US/UK invasion of Iraq in 2003. I believe that some of the chaos we now see in that part of the world today is, at least partly, a legacy of that action. But I do not believe that affects the urgency of the situation in …
Just a short note to keep you up to date with where things are up to with The North Worcestershire Golf Course issue. Last Friday (19th September) I attended a public meeting with Bloor Homes which was organised by the Council's Longbridge Ward Committee. @b31Voices tweeted regular reports from the meeting as it was taking place but I thought It may also be helpful for me to do a round-up of what …
Thanks to businesses and residents in Kings Norton for the comments you have sent to me about the planning applications from Sainsburys and the Coop to build new stores next to or near Kings Norton Green.
I know many Northfield residents will have been worried by this article which has appeared in the Birmingham Mail. So I wanted to write to update local people about the action I and Chair of Birmingham’s Northfield District Committee, Labour Councillor Brett O’Reilly, have taken in response. We have called for an investigation into the issue of the Spectrum Swimming Club and …
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.