National News

My response to the Select Committee’s Work Programme report

The DWP Select Committee report: ‘Can the Work Programme work for all user groups?’  is fresh evidence that Iain Duncan Smith and David Cameron are failing the test they set themselves in Opposition. Unemployment is rising in three quarters of…

 

Local solutions are the key to full employment – my article in the New Statesman, 18th May 2013

Labour is learning from countries where local services are trusted to match job seekers with vacancies. In the pages of this week’s New Statesman the ever excellent Ian Mulheirn takes a look at this government’s employment policy. Needless to say…

 

‘The Road Back to Full Employment’ – my speech to IPPR North, 16th May 2013

There are few better places than here, to speak about the task of rebuilding Britain as a country of full employment. Today we meet under 10 miles from Jarrow, where I spent this morning. The town from where families hungry…

 

Government has simply failed to get Britain back to work

We now have definitive proof the Government has simply failed to get Britain back to work. Today we’ve learned the number in work is down, unemployment is up, and more people are out of work for longer. Yet despite a…

 

Government set to plunge over a million children into poverty by the end of this decade

Research by the IFS showing more than one million children are expected to be living in poverty by 2020. The IFS’ verdict is clear – by both internationally recognised measures, this Government is set to plunge over a million children…

 

With youth unemployment, David Cameron is letting down a generation

The impact of the David Cameron’s failed policies to get jobseekers back to work has been revealed as figures show how since they took office long term youth unemployment has risen to over 70,000. Labour has called for a compulsory…

 

Underemployment is the untold story of Britain’s jobs crisis

Research by the NIESR shows that underemployment has risen from 6.2 per cent of the UK workforce in 2008 to 9.9 per cent in 2012.  Underemployment is the untold story of Britain’s jobs crisis. Under David Cameron, one in ten people…

 

Ministers seem to have got jobseekers wasting time on mumbo jumbo personality tests when they should be looking for work

The Guardian reports that that jobseekers are being asked to complete ‘bogus psychometric tests, as reported here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/30/jobseekers-bogus-psychometric-tests-unemployed No wonder unemployment is higher today than when this government came to power. Ministers seem to have got jobseekers wasting time on…

 

Britain’s youth jobs crisis is holding a generation back

  In the last 12 months there were 101,000 young people who passed the 12-month mark in their JSA claim. As a consequence of the Government’s economic failure, these young people have been scarred by long-term unemployment. One of the…

 

Universal Credit has been massively delayed and is now unlikely to be fully up and running until late in the next parliament

  In his July 2010 Green Paper ‘21st Century Welfare’, Iain Duncan Smith downplayed the scale of the major IT project which has now led to delays in the implementation of Universal Credit.   The Green Paper included claim that:…

 

Local News

Liam’s Latest – May 2013

Dear friend,   I thought I’d drop you my new monthly update with some news about what we’re up to across Hodge Hill!   Youth jobs   This government is badly letting down our young people. I’m taking action to…

 

Response following my residents meeting at the Hodge Hill Primary Care Centre on 28 March 2013

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend another popular residents meeting before Easter – and thanks to all who sent back the surveys. Thanks too, to our hard-working local councillors who were able to join me. There were…

 

Results of the Kitts Green Survey

The results of my survey to Kitts Green residents are back, and here are the results: Do you think I should hold an older peoples forum? 91% said yes and 9% said no Should a bankers bonus be used to fund jobs…

 

The Government’s discredited policies deliver yet another set of dismal unemployment figures for Birmingham

“Three years on its now as clear the Government’s plan is failing Birmingham, and failing badly. At a time when hard pressed families in our city need decisive and credible action, this Government’s discredited policies deliver yet another set of…

 

My letter to residents after our meeting at the Pump, 16th Feb 13

                                                                                                    4 March 2013 Thanks to all those who were able to make it to my residents meeting at The Pump the other week, together with Cllr John Cotton.  There were three key local issues that residents wanted…

 

Budget day shows that George Osborne has failed Birmingham

“Budget day shows a clear sign that George Osborne has failed Birmingham.  “Unemployment in Birmingham is up again, now at 49,000 and we still have some of the worst youth unemployment hot spots in the country, and the problem is…

 

More land for Leigh Road school?

Leigh Road school is a great school, popular with local parents, and one of the first schools built in Hodge Hill when the city of Birmingham expanded its boundaries east a century ago to become the country’s second city. But…

 

‘We’re up for it’. South Birmingham and City College passionate about Hodge Hill youth jobs

Last Friday I caught up with Mike Hopkins, principal of South Birmingham and City College at his headquarters in Digbeth to talk about how the college can help in our fight for youth jobs.   The good news: Mike is…

 

As unemployment goes up in Hodge Hill and wages go down, I’m taking action

Today’s unemployment figures offered no respite for Hodge Hill as unemployment rose, yet still Ministers have no answers to Birmingham’s ongoing jobs crisis. We now have 6,860 on the dole in our constituency. It’s getting harder to keep a job…

 

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

BIRMINGHAM: ENDING YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT Our campaign for youth jobs got a shot in the arm last month with a major announcement by Labour’s City Council – the Council will invest £2 million into a new jobs fund for young people….