Three Ways To Fix Britain’s Broken Competiton Regime  

Speech to Westminster Forum  

 Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP

Chair, Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund: 

Since the creation of the Competition and Markets Authority in 2013, competition has stalled, big companies have got ever bigger, and productivity has flatlined. 

In the spiritual home, of the free market this is a problem. 

7 Years ago I warned that Child Poverty was costing our city over £1 billion. Now, new figures from @IIECP show things are going from bad to worse with 20,000 more children in poverty than when we first reported. The East Birmingham Taskforce is asking the Government to take concrete action now. You can read more here 

I wrote to the Prime Minister after watching the brutality aimed at Palestinian worshippers at the Al Asqa Mosque. Amongst other things I demanded the Prime Minister clearly condemn Israeli actions inside the Mosque. You can read more here

If there was one reason I was standing for mayor it was to make homelessness history and deliver a right to  food. Having lost we need to think again about how we deliver that.

I stood to be Mayor to make homelessness history and to render foodbanks something of the past; to lead green Britain and bring back industry. We won convincingly in 2 of our great cities – Birmingham and Coventry and in the Borough of Sandwell. But that was not enough to win the Mayoral election. To the winner, Andy Street, I offer my support and congratulations.

As the vaccine rollout continues across Birmingham we can start to see some light at the end of the tunnel after what has been a truly difficult year for all of us.We all know someone whose health or employment has been affected by the events of the past 12 months, and as we look to the end of the covid restrictions I'm determined to see the government provide Birmingham with the support it needs to rebuild its healthcare and employment capacity.While the numbers of covid patients is decreasi