Former
Welcome to my website and blog.
You can read a bit more about who I am and what makes me tick here. A summary of the work I did when I was Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 can also be found here.
The older posts on here date from my time as an MP but I have continued to blog since leaving Parliament.
The opening paragraphs of my blog posts appear at the bottom of this page in reverse date order. The “Read on” buttons take you to what I have written in full. My posts below also contain links to articles I have written and which have been published elsewhere, together with posts imported from my own Facebook page.
To view posts on a specific subject, from both during and after my time in Parliament, please click one of the buttons below.
These are the main subjects on which I’ve written. Click here to view the full list of categories.
Here is the link to my Bluesky account, and here is the link to my Twitter/X account. You can also view my Facebook page and LinkedIn profile.
Click on ‘Contact’ below to get in touch with me.
This feed refreshes intermittently. Please log in to X (Twitter) to view my newest tweets in full.
Chag Pesach Sameach to all celebrating #Passover
Israel must immediately repeal the discriminatory death penalty law passed today by the Knesset, as it contravenes Israel’s obligations under international law.
The United Nations opposes the death penalty under all circumstances. The implementation of this new law would violate
Israel is brazenly granting itself carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards.
The new law dismantles fundamental safeguards to prevent the arbitrary deprivation of life and protect the right to a fair trial. It further
To describe the Government’s twists and turns over the way our Police are funded as a shambles would be putting it charitably. That was the message from an emergency statement where the Police Minister was forced to apologise to the House of Commons today. Confused? You should be. It would all be comical if it wasn’t so serious. But it is serious. Very serious. It is about nothing less than the …
On Monday I was at the Birmingham launch of Living Wage Week 2015 where the new rate for the Living Wage outside of London was unveiled - rising from £7.85 per hour to £8.25 per hour. When I say "Living Wage", I mean the real one - a figure produced from independent research into what people in the UK need to get by. It's not about luxuries. It reflects the real cost of living taking into account …
Under changes introduced by the Government, thousands of people across Birmingham and West Mercia could lose their right to vote unless they individually re-register. The registers with the largest predicted drop off tend to be in urban areas with a high incidence of multiple occupancy housing, regular home movers and large numbers of historically low propensity registering voters. According to …
When the West Midland comes together, we can get results. That is the message from recent changes to the way the Government allocates funding for Policing across different parts of the country. West Midland Police has already been hit hard by government cuts of over 20% in the last five years. On top of that, however, there were real fears that our region could be hit even harder in comparison to …
Following the recent VW scandal, EU Member State representatives agreed on 28th October at Technical Committee to tighten EU emissions testing rules – and then appeared to give open-ended permission for cars to breach the EU’s own limits by 50% in real live driving conditions.
Welcome to my Animal Welfare Round-Up, where I regularly update you on some of the animal causes I have recently been campaigning on.
UK Drivers are being left in the dark due to mixed messages from ministers. By Richard Burden Originally published by HuffPost, October 21, 2015 The UK Government must come clean on what they knew and move quicker to end uncertainty for drivers. Almost a month after Volkswagen’s use of “defeat devices” to evade regulatory emissions limits in the USA became known, it is clear …
All murders and other attacks on civilians are unacceptable, whoever commits them and whoever are the victims. As of 19 October, the recent alarming escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine has claimed the lives of 9 Israelis who have died in knife and other attacks by Palestinians. Over 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settler attacks. Estimates suggest around half …
Responding to the decision of Sir Albert Bore to stand down as Leader of Birmingham City Council, Richard Burden MP said: “Albert has been at the centre of that throughout, holding economic development portfolios on the Council and chairing Europe’s Committee of the regions as well as leading Birmingham City Council twice in the last sixteen years. Under his stewardship Birmingham City …
West Midlands Police have announced a plan to close 28 police stations across the region. In and around the Northfield area, Kings Norton, Longbridge, Warstock and Bartley Green are scheduled to close. Although nearby Bournville Lane will continue to be the Police headquarters for the area, these proposals mean that there will be no police stations in Northfield constituency itself by the end of …
Richard is looking for an addition to his busy team in the Westminster office. This is a part-time, paid and fixed position lasting until the Christmas recess.
You will learn first-hand about the work that MPs do representing their constituents in Parliament, as well as gaining insight into the role of a Shadow Transport Minister.
Last Friday (18 September) I hosted a ‘Superfast Summit’ in Kings Norton, where I met with senior officials from Virgin Media, BT, Digital Birmingham and alternative providers, to discuss the problem of superfast broadband not-spots in the constituency. Many of you will be aware - or have even got in touch with me – about my campaign on poor broadband coverage. I have estimated around 1500 homes …
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.
