Liz writes February 2020
In January I chaired a breakfast roundtable organised by the Industry and Parliament Trust, bringing together industry representatives, third-sector organisations and parliamentarians to discuss the issue of suicide in the construction industry. The meeting had a...
Liz writes October 2019
“People before privilege” was the theme of last week’s Labour Party Conference in Brighton. We announced bold new policies including putting the final say on Brexit back to the people, rolling out a new national living wage that extends to young people aged 16 plus,...
Liz writes July 2019
Last week our Great Summer Get Together in Ryton was a fantastic moment, as our community came together to celebrate that we share more in common than that which divides us. The annual event is inspired by the life of the young Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered three...
Liz writes June 2019
It’s astonishing how much power one person has to make change. Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage rebel, has become the symbol of leadership in 2019 through her efforts to drag climate change firmly back on the international agenda. Despite Trump’s rejection of the...
Liz writes May 2019
Parliament returned last week, so we’ve finally had the chance to focus on key domestic issues; issues neglected for too long, as Westminster and Whitehall have focussed their resources almost solely on Brexit in recent months. The extension to the Brexit deadline...
Liz writes April 2019
While Westminster is gridlocked, life goes on in our local communities, where concerns over public services, crime, climate change, housing, health and business are growing. Sick to the back teeth of the B word, they feel increasingly alienated from our politics. So,...
Liz writes March 2019
On Monday I led a debate on behalf of Mr Andrew Ramanandi, the Head Teacher of St Joseph’s Primary School in Blaydon and over 104,000 teachers, support staff, heads, parents and governors from around the country who signed a petition calling for fair funding for...
Liz writes February 2019
This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and as a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Suicide and Self-Harm, meetings and campaigns around mental health play a large part in my Parliamentary diary. I recently met with Action for Children at the launch of...
The year ahead in British politics
So, here we stand at the start of a new year. For me, the run up to Christmas was a time for getting out and meeting constituents making their Christmas preparations and taking the time to thank and celebrate their local communities. It was a privilege – and a huge...
A response to the 2018 Budget
In politics words matter a lot. Less than a month ago Theresa May delivered her leaders’ address to Tory party conference, in which she proclaimed, “A decade after the financial crash, people need to know that the austerity it led to is over and that their hard work...