Former Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield
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.
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.
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
Today’s announcement of an £8m+ package to improve transport links in and around Longbridge is great news for the entire South Birmingham area. Longbridge rail station will be upgraded. There will be better passenger information, an improved interchange for bus passengers, and a better environment for cyclists and pedestrians too. The existing park and ride facility is also due for extension and …
I am delighted that the Mahfil Restaurant in Kings Norton has been chosen as one of the 13 national finalists in the prestigious Tiffin Cup competition. I nominated Mahfil after visiting the restaurant earlier in the year, so it is brilliant that they have now made it into the final. The Tiffin Cup is awarded every year by the Tiffin Club of MPs, formed in 2006. The aim is not only to recognise …
Over the past few weeks prolonged works to repair water mains in Northfield has been severely disrupting the high street, and trade for local businesses on it. Severn Trent Water opened up a hole at the junction of Bell Lane and Bristol Road South on the 14th June, after it was found that four leaks in the trunk main supplying water to Birmingham have slowly been eroding the ground underneath …
Today was Birmingham Day in the Houses of Parliament, showcasing creativity in our city with many guests from Birmingham's arts and creative industries.
Even though more than 12 months have now passed since the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was rolled out by the Government to replace the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), many people are still waiting for a decision on their claim to receive it. Given the importance of this payment, and the positive impact it can have on the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in society, I can only …
It will not be revealing too many trade secrets for me to say that I am not a big fan of the Government’s “free schools” programme. I put that in quotes because I think that a lot of what Michael Gove is doing to education in this country has very little to do with freedom. In many cases, the reverse is the reality. However, one less well known approach to free schools comes from “Alternative …
The House of Commons Education Select Committee have published an important report on educational underachievement by children in white working class communities. This is a key issue for the Northfield area, and one that I’ve been looking into for years. In 2009 I held an adjournment debate on the problem after a report funded by Birmingham City Council revealed that a high number of white …
The World Cup has started and, to celebrate, it was good to visit St Brigid’s School in Northfield on Thursday. They were holding their own World Cup match. It was St Brigid’s England team against St Brigid’s Rest of the World team. It was a close match and England won 3-2. A good omen? I hope so.
Alongside Steve McCabe MP (Labour MP for Selly Oak), I’m warning that it is only a matter of time before there is a serious collision near Birmingham Council’s Lifford Lane Depot in Kings Norton. We are calling for urgent action by the City Council to resolve multiple hazards associated with traffic trying to gain access to and from the site.
If a week is a long time in politics, there can be no doubt we have seen a great deal of change in the last four! As the 2014-2015 Parliament begins, I’m very pleased to send local people May’s newsletter, which has updates on work in Westminster and Birmingham Northfield. This update covers local and national news – from the recent local and European elections, to voting for …
As has been the case across the city and country, UKIP was the beneficiary of a big protest vote here yesterday. The split in the vote for mainstream parties resulting from that worked to more to Labour's advantage in Longbridge, and it worked more to the Tories advantage in Kings Norton. Everything I picked up on the doorstep suggests to me that only a fraction of the people who voted UKIP …
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.
Get in touch
You can reach me by email at richard@richardburden.com or use the form on the Contact page to send me a message.
