Where we are now In the Birmingham Mail in December, I set out my thoughts on the issues facing the country. I tried to address the real possibility that if Parliament remained unable to agree a way forward – there may be little alternative but to put the choices facing the UK back to the people for a final decision. So what has happened since then? The Brexit deal that Theresa May …
Crashing out of the EU without a deal would inflict serious damage on manufacturing industry here in the Midlands and beyond. Whatever happens to the Prime Minister’s deal, the overriding priority now must be to rule out a no deal Brexit to avoid that damage. My speech in today’s Commons Brexit debate:
Did Seaborne Freight issue an inaccurate briefing to investors and what investigations have ministers carried out before awarding a £13.8m contract? My question in the House of Commons and the non-reply I received from the Transport Secretary:
Hopefully you will have seen my previous Brexit updates in previous newsletters and on my website. As ever, things have drastically changed since the last update in November. You will now likely know that the long-awaited Parliamentary vote on the Prime Minister’s deal – that was supposed to take place last week – has been pulled and delayed. The Prime Minister has now said that vote will take …
The Prime Minister has now set out the terms of her proposed Brexit deal (all 585 pages of it!) and Parliament is about to start nearly two weeks of intensive debate ahead of votes on 11th December. I recently set out my thoughts on where things stand and on the choices facing the UK in an article published by the Birmingham Post and Mail here. Based on what I know now and in line with the …
Unsurprisingly, lots of constituents have written to me in the last week about the Brexit deal that Theresa May has brought back. If – as looks likely – Parliament rejects both Theresa May’s deal and leaving the EU without a deal, then a people’s vote may yet be the only way to break the logjam. I have set out my thoughts in an article in the Birmingham Mail’s Birmingham Live website …
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.