The 56,000 European people in the EU, over 10,000 of whom are in Britain, waiting for organ transplants deserve as good a chance as the rest of us to live a reasonable quality life. It is nothing short of shocking that in Europe around three people a day, 1000 each year, die waiting for a [...]
Filed under: Labour Party | Tagged: european parliament, MEPs, organ donation | 1 Comment »
Mother’s Day fell this year in Belgium on 9th May. Dutch MEP Sophia in ‘t Veld, who is the President of the European Parliament working group on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and development (EPWG), used Mother’s Day as a way of introducing a roundtable discussion entitled ‘The Dark Side of Mothers’ Day: Maternal Mortality’. Unsafe motherhood, and its disastrous [...]
Filed under: Labour Party | Tagged: Amnesty International, Burkina Faso, Committee on Women's Rights and Gender, EPWG, maternal mortality, Millennium Development Goals, Sophia in 't Veld, United Nations | Leave a Comment »
In March, a proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on combating the sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography was published by the European Commission. It is now being taken up by the Committee on Civil Liberties in the European Parliament, and the two committees that I sit [...]
Filed under: Labour Party | Tagged: european commission, european parliament, Culture and Education Committee, Committee on Women's Rights and Gender, committee on civil liberties, child safety online, eNASCO | Leave a Comment »
When I launched my successful campaign to retain specialist staff at the Metropolitan Police tackling trafficking of women in October 2009, I was a little surprised at the number of people who questioned the amount of trafficked women there are in London. I am sad that this is the case, but pleased to read in the [...]
Filed under: Labour Party | 1 Comment »
Following yesterday’s blog which showed that hung parliaments and coalition governments are not the rare species in these islands that so many politicians and commentators seem to believe, the time has now come to move on from academic analysis. I have been absolutely entranced by the past four days of negotiation. Not being part of [...]
Filed under: Labour Party | Tagged: european parliament, House of Commons, Hung Parliament, Labour Party, Lib-Lab Coalition, Liberal Democrats, Lloyd George, Margaret Thatcher, progressive alliance, Tories | 3 Comments »
No-one, least of all me, is saying the election was good for Labour. The result appears to reflect the genuine uncertaintity of the British people – no clear majority and no clear winner, even under our unfair first past the post voting system. The 2010 election will, I hope, put paid for ever to the [...]
Filed under: Labour Party | Tagged: 2010 election, London, Oxford University Labour Club, Ramsey MacDonald, Winston Churchill | Leave a Comment »
Even though, as most of you will know, I am a long standing supporter of electoral reform, my unequivocal message today is vote Labour. Vote Labour in the General Election and across London in the Council elections. As always, I have campaigned in Westminster North for Karen Buck. These words from James Walsh her organiser express what those who [...]
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Last Friday and Saturday I had a great couple of days working in Barking for Margaret Hodge, and I’m confident she will win. Margaret is inspiring a lively and very committed campaign – one of the best I’ve ever seen. However, it’s not just the Parliamentary seat. We need to see off the BNP in [...]
Filed under: Labour Party | 1 Comment »
I have been impressed at the activity of local Labour parties in London. Not only are they campaigning they’re also fundraising too. This week I spoke at a packed Fuchsia restaurant in South Croydon supporting Gerry Ryan (I’m pictured on the streets of Croydon Central last week with Gerry). The level of support on the [...]
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Yesterday morning before heading out east to a day’s campaigning in Barking I recorded a debate on electoral reform for the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme. It will be broadcast soon (probably today) and may be added to the podcasts of the programme. Thank you to Conservative peer Lord Norton of Louth for his generous reference [...]
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