Tag Archives: andy burnham

Shaun Ennis

Police in schools will disproportionately inhibit BAME and LGBTQ pupils

By Shaun Ennis | Tue 9th June 2020 - 2:12 pm

Embed from Getty Images

‘Black Lives Matter’ is an ingenious piece of political messaging because it hits on something so emphatically undeniable that to try to alter or contradict it is to reveal profound ignorance. A powerful and undeniable phrase that shines an ultraviolet light on some of our society’s most uncomfortable truths, privileges and injustices.

As the recent protests and social media campaigns have shown, there are lots of ways that all of us can help but I want to highlight one campaign that should strike a chord with anyone of a liberal persuasion and that is the campaign against school-based police officers.

For context I strongly urge Liberal Democrat colleagues across the country – and especially in the North West of England – to follow Kids of Colour and Northern Police Monitoring Project on social media. The two organisations have set up the ‘No Police In Schools’ campaign in response to the proposed roll out of school-based officers (SBPOs) by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Burnham claims the officers will help tackle violent crime amongst young people but, in reality, his proposal will change schools from places of support and safety, to places of punitive social control with young people of colour and those who are LGBTQ disproportionately inhibited as a result. Aside from the distinct absence of any meaningful consultation with students, parents, teachers or community groups there is also a distinct lack of evidence that school-based policing leads to a reduction in violent crime amongst young people. According to the British Medical Journal, the hours between which under 16s are at the highest risk from violent crime are 4pm – 6pm, so an approach that places an officer inside a school during school hours is unlikely to be a deterrent.

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The Voice

Clegg’s letter to Burnham: “you may have inadvertently misled” Commons on Labour’s NHS privatisation record

By The Voice | Wed 10th December 2014 - 6:30 pm

clegg on leveson 2Nick Clegg fielded Prime Minister’s Questions today, during which he noted that Labour’s shadow health secretary Andy Burnham is “the only man in England who has ever privatised an NHS hospital”. Mr Burham complained that Nick had misled the House of Commons over the issue of Hichingbrooke Hospital, accusing him of “sheer inaccuracy”. The Lib Dem leader lost no time in responding:

Dear Andy,

I see that you raised a Point of Order in the House of Commons and that you accused me of “sheer inaccuracy”. I am always happy to confirm the accuracy of what I have said.

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Posted in News, Parliament and PMQs | Also tagged , , , and | 32 Comments

Opinion: What Andy Burnham didn’t tell you about NHS privatisation

By K B | Sun 17th August 2014 - 8:45 am

nhs sign lrgAndy Burnham’s recent set-piece speech on the NHS, the latest instalment of Labour’s “summer offensive”, opened with a neat bit of scene-setting. By briefly championing a group of Darlington mothers who are presently marching 300 miles in protest at the use of private providers in the NHS, he conjured a mood of protest while subtly co-opting their campaign. Thereafter he sought only to reduce the 2015 general election to a “binary choice” between “a part-privatised, two-tier health market under David Cameron” and “a public, integrated national health and care service under Labour.”

In terms of how he defined that choice, though, Burnham could hardly have done worse than to frame his argument with an example from Cambridgeshire, singling out for particular criticism its attempt to integrate care services for older people.

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Mark Pack

Labour health policy descends into mess on first day of conference

By Mark Pack | Sat 29th September 2012 - 8:48 pm

At a Q&A session, Labour leader Ed Miliband said:

I think what would be not sensible is for us to come along and say, ‘well, Andrew Lansley, now Jeremy Hunt, they’re changing all the arrangements, have these new clinical commissioning groups and so on, and we’re just going to reverse it all back and spend another £3bn on another top-down bureaucratic organisation.

So Labour wouldn’t just reverse all the Health and Social Care Act changes? That would mean quietly forgetting some of the rhetoric about how the passage of the Act would kill the NHS, but it’s easy to see why …

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Mark Pack

Do you remember how Labour’s London campaign collapsed into chaos and confusion in 1998?

By Mark Pack | Mon 8th November 2010 - 10:05 pm

No, I don’t either. Which leaves me puzzled.

Because, you see, Labour MP and campaign coordinator Andy Burham has said that his party would not be working much for a Yes vote in the AV referendum as,

It would be a recipe for chaos and confusion if Labour candidates were also supporting AV in their literature.

Odd then that it wasn’t a recipe for chaos and confusion in London in 1998 when there was a referendum on the same day as other elections. And I’m sure that the fact that the 1998 referendum was introduced by a Labour government whilst the 2011 one …

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Stephen Tall

LDV survey: Lib Dem members think Mili-D would make best Labour leader (but Balls would be best for us)

By Stephen Tall | Thu 23rd September 2010 - 7:45 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the early race for the party presidency, the London mayoral selection, Trident, and the Labour leadership. Over 400 party members have responded, and we’ve been publishing the full results.

This Saturday we find out who will be the next Labour leader. The assumption is it will be neck-and-neck between the Brothers Miliband, David and Ed. David has been the favourite throughout the summer-long contest, but in the last few weeks theres been a sense that the race has tightened with many folk now tipping …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged , , , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who would get your vote in the Labour leadership contest?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 13th September 2010 - 7:45 am

The weekend papers were full of speculation about the Labour leadership contest, which as it draws to a close appears to be a nail-bitingly close finish between the Brothers Miliband.

According to pollster YouGov, Ed Miliband is set to sneak victory by the closest of margins after second preferences are taken into account; though the poll didn’t appear to take into account the votes of MPs and MEPs who control one-third of Labour’s electoral college. This is not, after all, a party which believes all votes should be equal, whether in Parliamentary constituencies or in their own leadership race.

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Stephen Tall

Dave reckons Mili-D’s the biggest threat: for the record, so do I

By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th August 2010 - 3:04 pm

David Cameron has ‘let it be known’ (ie, his press team briefed the Guardian) that shadow foreign secretary David Miliband “poses the greatest threat to the Conservative party of all the candidates in the Labour leadership contest”.

How to interpret this? Is Dave’s backing of David a cunning bluff: the Tory leader backing the most New Labour-identified candidate to put Labour members off backing him? Or could it be an even cunninger double bluff: the Tory leader, knowing his endorsement could be read as a bluff, backing the most media-awkward candidate in the hope Labour members will vote for …

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James Blessing

Opinion: Who do we want to win the Labour leadership election?

By James Blessing | Sun 13th June 2010 - 11:20 am

It’s been interesting to see the final list of nominations for Labour Party leader which, for those that missed it, is:

Diane Abbott
Ed Balls
Andy Burnham
David Miliband
Ed Miliband

The response from all quarters about the list first that its very ‘samey’, with much said about tokenism and the inclusion of Diane Abbott, not because she’s black or a woman but because she represents the old left of the party. That got me to thinking about who would be the best from a Lib Dem point of view.

A Leftie

Dianne Abbott is the only real left leaning candidate. A Labour party under her ministrations would …

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Stephen Tall

Want to know who the most liberal Labour leadership contender is?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 10th June 2010 - 9:40 am

Before the election, Lib Dem Voice launched How Authoritarian is your MP?, a website which ranked how authoritarian – or liberal – were MPs in the 2005-10 parliament based on their voting record on 10 key issues. These ranged from ID cards to detention without trial to freedom of speech.

The five candidates for the Labour leadership are now official – so we can now see how their voting record compares, and name the contender who is, officially, the most liberal potential Labour leader …

(NB: if you click on their name you can see how their voting record stacks up).

1. Diane Abbott.

36% authoritarian, 64% liberal.

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Stephen Tall

LDV members’ survey (2): Labour leadership – Ed Miliband wins your vote (but Ed Balls would be best for Lib Dems)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th May 2010 - 3:45 pm

Lib Dem Voice has been conducting a survey this week of party members registered on our members’ forum asking them for their views of the coalition, Labour leadership and the party’s general election result. Over 400 have responded, and here’s part two of what you’ve told us …

LDV asked: Putting aside your Lib Dem allegiance who do you think would make the best Labour leader?

Here’s what you said:

37% – Ed Miliband
25% – Diane Abbott
17% – David Miliband
9% – Andy Burnham
8% – John McDonnell
3% – Ed Balls
(Excluding Don’t know / No opinion =

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged , , , , and | 11 Comments
Sara Bedford

The price of a Labour marginal? £81 million

By Sara Bedford | Fri 2nd April 2010 - 6:05 pm

Earlier this year Professor Tim Briggs, medical director of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore, threatened to challenge local MP Tony McNulty and stand as an independent candidate for Harrow East. Professor Briggs was angry that after a 15 year campaign for funding to rebuild the hospital and a decision to fund essential repairs two years ago, the hospital remains in a state of disrepair, with rainwater seeping through ceilings and a maintenance backlog estimated at £54 million. The situation had worsened further, when a row between the hospital and NHS London intensified, leading to fears that the hospital could be split up as part of a restructuring process to save money.

Within four days of Professor Briggs announcement, Andy Burnham, the Secretary of State for Health had agreed an emergency meeting to discuss funding for the hospital. And on the last full business day before the General Election, an £81 million package to rebuild the hospital was announced. Professor Briggs expressed his delight at the decision, but not his surprise. Andy Burnham expressed similar thoughts when the Professor later announced that he would not now seek to join Dr Richard Taylor on the green benches. Making the announcement, Andy Burnham said, “Tony brought me here in 2006 and made the case for the hospital and for his constituency, and for me it was unfinished business.” One wonders why it took four years for the business to be finished?

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Posted in General Election and News | Also tagged , , and | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lamb slaughters Burnham’s “vague unfunded” hospital parking wish

By Stephen Tall | Thu 1st October 2009 - 8:35 pm

In a pledge so carefully worded it already anticipates its own failure excuses, Labour’s health secretary Andy Burnham yesterday pledged to abolish hospital parking fees:

It’s not right if some people don’t get visitors every day because families can’t afford the parking fees. … We can’t do it overnight, but over the next three years, as we can afford it, I want to phase out car parking charges for in-patients, giving each a permit for the length of their stay which family and friends can use”

Using the phrases “over the next three years” and “as we can afford it” in …

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Mark Pack

Should product placement be banned from TV shows?

By Mark Pack | Sun 13th September 2009 - 3:36 pm

Here’s Don Foster’s take on the subject:

In the current financial climate, we have to look at all revenue options including product placement.

The previous Secretary of State, Andy Burnham, was wrong to have ruled out the option of product placement.

With Google now having a larger advertising revenue than ITV, the commercial television companies need to fight back and it’s welcome that the new Secretary of State is using common sense and allowing product placement to be part of their armoury.

Given how controversial product placement was in its early days in US TV and in films, I’m struck how muted the public …

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 20 July 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 20th July 2009 - 11:44 am

2 Big Stories

Andy Burnham on “conflicting advice” about swine flu
There’s even conflicting advice on whether “conflicting advice” is actually conflicting…
From the Guardian:

“There isn’t conflicting advice. The advice has been clear all along that women who are pregnant should take extra precautions as they would anyway – they should really follow the advice about hand hygiene, they should consider avoiding crowded places. This is the advice we have given out all the way.”

David Cameron’s ‘new look’ Tory MPs are the most extreme for a generation
From the Mirror:

David Cameron’s claim to have modernised his party is today exposed as a

…

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Posted in Daily View | Also tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
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