I can rarely remember a Budget over which there has already been so much speculation, concern and fear. And the announcements we will hear on Wednesday are not even the annual budget the Chancellor is required to present every March. This is ‘an emergency summer budget’ – made necessary because the Tories pledged to make £12 billion in welfare savings before the Election, without any idea …
7 of the world’s ten F1 teams are British and Britain’s £9bn motorsport industry is a global success story, employing over 40,000 people. That is why, as well as drivers, the UK needs to always be looking to nurture the next generation of designers, engineers, aerodynamicists and technicians who can keep us ahead.
This week the Government published the annual statistics on reported road casualties in Great Britain. Behind these figures are personal tragedies for thousands of families up and down the country whose loved ones have been killed or injured on our roads. They should be a wake-up call for Ministers. After decades of progress, for some time there have been worrying rises in casualty rates for …
You may recall before the General Election, I did a call out for local people to get in touch if they had access problems to Superfast Broadband.
The response I got back, highlighted a number of random pockets in the local area – not-spots - that have no coverage and affect residents and even a school.
Last year’s independence referendum, and the massive increase in support for the Scottish Nationalists at the General Election, have inevitably focused attention about how and where decisions should be made across the different nations of the UK. It’s also clear that big questions must be answered about how power is devolved – not only to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but within …
Unless the new Government stops ignoring concerns, and ends the complacency, I fear that only further chaos looms ahead. By Richard Burden Originally published by HuffPost, June 11, 2015 New Government, same problems. This week saw the final abolition of the ‘Counterpart Driving Licence’ – the green paper sheet holding a drivers’ convictions and entitlements. It has been …
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.