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.
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Click on ‘Contact’ below to get in touch with me.
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Roy Hattersley was a fellow Birmingham MP and a key figure in Labour for decades. We came from different wings of the Party but I always knew he was someone who never lost sight of the bottom-line principles that made him Labour. RIP
Let’s call out what happened in Belfast last night for what it was – a pogrom. What a contrast with the hugely dignified response of Stephen Ogilvie’s family. Total respect for them as they face such an ordeal after the horrific attack on him.
Abolishing patient watchdog leaves NHS ‘marking own homework’, councils warn
In otherwise wide ranging interview with Health Secretary, James Murray, regrettable that @BBCr4today didn’t ask why the new Health Bill, to be debated today will scrap independent patient and public voice in health &social care. Here’s why govt is wrong
A number of local people have come to me raising concerns about the way in which Jobseeker’s Plus has been issuing sanctions for those claiming out of work benefits. The Government introduced these sanctions in 2010. The aim is to make people claiming Jobseeker’s ‘see the consequences of their actions’. Sanctions can last for 4, 13, 26 weeks – and even up to three years and are issued if people …
I had the privilege of giving the closing speech of Northfield’s District Convention on Saturday. It had been a very successful event with a good attendance from community groups and organisations across the area. With the theme of “Making a Difference in your Community” the Convention heard thought provoking contributions from Paul Slatter of the Chamberlain Forum and Barbara …
Ahead of today’s public consultation event in Longbridge, last week Labour Councillors Brett O’Reilly, Ian Cruise, Andy Cartwright and I looked at some of the options for addressing some of traffic “pinch points” around the Longbridge redevelopment site.
Next week I will be meeting the Chair and Acting Principal of Bournville College to run through the financial and strategic issues they are facing. We will be discussing what needs to be done to safeguard opportunities for young people in the South Birmingham area and beyond, and to build a secure future for the college itself – a keystone of the redevelopment of the Longbridge area. I don’t want …
I was very concerned to see, via Facebook, that parking charges were introduced late last week for the parking spaces available outside the Bull’s Head pub on Kings Norton Green. A number of local residents had been ticketed as they had parked there without realising that these charges had been introduced, and that they were subject to a fine of £50. I raised the issue with Birmingham City …
Responding to reports in the media about Bournville College in Longbridge, Richard Burden MP said: “I am very concerned about the news of the cuts being faced by Bournville College. Bournville is not only hugely important to expanding apprenticeships and providing young people with the skills and opportunities they deserve. It is also a cornerstone of the regeneration of the Longbridge area …
I know a lot of local people have experienced problems with London Midland Trains “Leaf Fall” service. I have written to London Midland to raise local people’s concerns about the amended timetable. You can find a copy of their reply to my letter here. As you will see, London Midland have reinstated stops on the 7.52 Longbridge to Four Oaks Service and the 8.10 Lichfield to Longbridge. I …
I know how much local people value our NHS. Sixty six years after the then Labour government created it, the principle that everyone – rich or poor, man, woman or child – can use any part of our health service is more important than ever. But during this parliament it has undergone huge and damaging changes. £3 billion has been wasted on a top-down reorganisation that the Conservatives …
I am very pleased to send you my report of some of the things I have been doing over the last year as your Member of Parliament. Times have been tough here in the past few years. Month by month local people have been seeing the prices of food, heating and travel rise faster than their wages. The number of residents – especially those under 24 – out of a job for over a year is …
This year’s Remembrance events have been special in so many ways. Most obviously, of course, it is 100 years since the outbreak of World War One. In June it was also the 70th anniversary of D-Day in World War Two. This is also the year in which British combat troops leave Afghanistan; a conflict that has claimed the lives of 453 UK service personnel in the past thirteen years. In amongst the …
After Parliament’s historic recognition of Palestine in October, I wrote the following article for the Chartist on the implications of the vote. The UK Parliament’s vote on October 13 to recognise the state of Palestine was, by any standards, historic. Some close to the Israel government have since sought to rubbish it, claiming that somehow Labour MPs were forced by Ed Miliband to vote for …
I know how fed up people are about the way Governments and Councils behave. Sometimes it seems like politicians are all show, talking a different language and not listening to what people are saying to us. I have always tried to be a different kind of politician – taking up the issues that matter to local people and giving residents a say in the decisions that matter to you. So I am really …
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.
