Earlier this year it was revealed that the Northfield constituency has the worst record in the country for low pay. Over 50% of people in this area are paid less than the living wage of £7.85 an hour – reaching up to 63.1% for women. As I said at the time, it is an absolute scandal that over half of local working people are not being paid enough to provide properly for themselves and their...
VICTORY FOR LOCAL PEOPLE AS PLANNING INSPECTOR REJECTS THE APPEAL BY SAINSBURYS TO BUILD SUPERMARKET ON SITE OF NAVIGATION PUB… News has just come through that the Independent Planning Inspector has rejected an appeal by Sainsbury’s to build a supermarket on the site of the Navigation pub, near Kings Norton Green. Your local Labour team – Richard Burden, Councillor Peter Griffiths and...
Sikhs are a valued part of our community both here in the West Midlands and nationally. It is really important that the voices of Sikhs are heard, so I welcome the publication of the Sikh Manifesto which rightly highlights the enduring historical bonds between Sikhs and the UK – as well as key present and future issues. These range from better recognition of Sikhs in public life here in the...
Well, well. I hear David Cameron has parachuted into Longbridge today. You know the kind of thing: quick photo opportunity with hard hat, Tory candidate in tow and meet as few local people as possible. We've seen quite a few of these flag waving visits from Tory ministers in recent months. It's a pity the rest of us couldn't ask Mr Cameron a few questions during his whistle-stop today, about what...
Millions of people in this country are struggling on low pay at the moment. The economy may now be recovering – but it is the slowest recovery the country has seen in a hundred years and I know that many people in the Northfield area just are not feeling the benefits of it all. People are on average £1,600 a year worse off since the Conservative-led Government was elected in 2010. Far too...
Today is ten years to the day since the collapse of MG Rover in Longbridge. Like other people who live around here, I will never forget the scenes at Q Gate at the plant on the morning of 8th April, 2005. 6,000 people lost their jobs. But it wasn't only that loss that was devastating. The collapse affected whole families, and the community here that MGR had been at the heart of for so long.
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.