Yesterday former MG Rover employees, MG Rover and Austin enthusiasts, community groups and the new MG car company all came together in Cofton Park to celebrate our pride in Longbridge. Pride of Longbridge was a wonderful day. A celebration of why the name was synonymous with the motor industry throughout the 20th Century. It was great to see Austin, MG and Rover enthusiasts swopping stories with …
Today I was in Longbridge to watch the first new MG6 roll off the production line. This is a real milestone for Longbridge and for the automotive industry in the West Midlands.
Longbridge has been through dark days. Nobody around here will forget how it felt, six years ago this week, when the MG Rover plant closed its doors for the last time and over 6,000 people lost their jobs.
The importance of investing in our children’s future is more crucial now then ever before. We as adults realise the importance of saving and managing our own finances and the Child Trust Fund now allows us to do this for our children. The benefit of the scheme introduced for all children born on or after 1st September 2002 enables us to give our children a financial start moving into adult life …
The long awaited report of the independent inquiry into the collapse of MG Rover has finally been published today. Like most other people, I have found it frustrating that we have had to wait over four years for this inquiry to be completed and astonishing that it has cost around £16m. I have always supported publication of its findings and I am relieved that today we can finally see what is in …
The long awaited report of the independent inquiry into the collapse of MG Rover in 2005 was published at 9AM this morning. The report is now available online: Read Volume I of the report Read Volume II of the report The report is over 800 pages long. There is a 20 page conclusion which provides an overview of some of the matters discussed in far greater depth earlier in the report. Read the …
The MG Rover inqury report will be published at 9AM today. A copy of the report will be made available online here as soon as possible.
Below is an article I wrote for today’s Birmingham Post ahead of the publication of the report – about MG Rover, the report and looking forward to a new and sustainable future for Longbridge.
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.