Lots of local people continue to contact me about the future of Northfield's leisure facilities. For the latest update please read this article on B31 Voices about the City Council's Cabinet Meeting on the 15 September 2014 - at which the future of the pool and leisure centre was discussed. After the recent local consultation and residents meeting chaired by Labour Councillor and Northfield …
As Labour’s Shadow Transport Minister and MP for Birmingham Northfield, I am pleased to be hosting: Dinner with Mary Creagh MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport Thursday 20th November, 7.00. for 7.30pm Edgbaston Priory Club, Sir Harry’s Road, Birmingham, B15 2UZ Mary Creagh was first elected Member of Parliament for Wakefield in May 2005. She had previously served for a number of …
I wanted to write and update residents about what is proving to be a long line of smears being put about both on social media and in the Bromsgrove Standard newspaper by a Tory Candidate in Northfield. This time it’s an allegation from the Conservative candidate that that local Labour Councillors and the local MP (I’m assuming she is having a go at me rather than the Conservative MP for …
As the Referendum on Scottish Independence has got closer, the words “solidarity” and “self- determination” have come into my head time and time again. I guess like many on the Left in England, for a long time I reckoned my commitment to principle of self-determination meant that I should hold back. Surely, I thought, independence was a matter for people in Scotland to decide, not something for …
I’ve been contacted by many local people who have told me that they are struggling to cope with the hated bedroom tax, introduced by the Tories and Liberal Democrats in Westminster. The Bedroom Tax is affecting over 13,000 households in Birmingham and over 1300 in the Northfield area alone. People receiving housing benefit, who live in council or housing association homes with a spare bedroom …
What is it with Conservative politicians and charities? This week, new Tory Minister for Civil Society, Brooks Newmark, provoked outrage by telling charities to "stick to their knitting" and keep out of politics. The tone was about as patronising as you could get. The use of language was nothing short of insulting when referring to organisations which span the spectrum from providing emergency …
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.