Today – 22nd March – is World Water Day. The day provides the opportunity to highlight the global water crisis and the wider impact it has on education, health, gender equality and peace. During my recent visit to Ethiopia with the International Development Committee I was reminded why clean water and sanitation need to be at the heart of development. They are not just essential needs – they also...
As we approach the 10 year anniversary of the war in Iraq there is inevitably a great deal of interest, once again, in the issue. I was one of the 139 Labour MPs who opposed the war and voted against the government in the House of Commons on 18th March 2003. The issue had dominated much of the debate – both inside Parliament and across the country – for the months leading up to that...
It’s been six months coming but this morning the Prime Minister finally made his ‘Big Speech’ on Europe.
I am clear that the EU needs to change and work better for people in here in Britain. But the real tragedy of David Cameron’s speech today is that internal tensions in the Conservative Party won’t let him address the need for change in the EU in a sensible and pragmatic way.
New global development goals to end extreme poverty, improve health and education, and promote sustainability must be simple and measurable.
Today the House of Commons International Development Select Committee, which I am a member of, published a new report on post-2015 development goals.
Last year the House of Commons International Development Committee, which I am a member of, published a number of reports including:
Afghanistan: Development progress and prospects after 2014
Tax in Developing Countries: Increasing Resources for Development
Yesterday there were debates in Parliament covering these two reports.
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.