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Simon Jenkins hits the bullseye. HS2 would merely have the effect of turning Birmingham into a London suburb. We need a major investment programme in high-speed rail that runs from Liverpool to Hull, and up to Newcastle. This programme must also link up all of the cities and smaller towns in between so that people can access decent-paying jobs without having to up sticks and move away from home. Both for the sake of justice, as well as on economic grounds, such a programme should take precedence over HS2.

The DWP has now tripled the number of staff trying to fix the system, from 400 to 1,200, and DWP select Committee chairman Frank Field said the cost is now expected to be close to £1 billion

A paradox. Elections can be decided by the amount of taxpayers’ money each political party believes should be spent by the state. Yet the total sum of taxpayers’ hard-earned cash going to each of the major government programmes, and particularly the largest — the welfare budget encompassing health, social care, social security, education, and housing — has long been unclear to most of the country. Equally strange is how little attention has been given to what those programmes cost. As Andrew Forsey and I argue in our book Not for Patching, the government should set up a strategic welfare review to examine the outcomes taxpayers ought to expect from those sums.

A campaign led by Birkenhead’s MP for improvements to bus services has gained its first successes for Beechwood and Noctorum residents.

During their visit in January, they launched Baby Basics Wirral, a project aimed at helping local families expecting babies, which is being run by the town’s Feeding Birkenhead, Supporting Wirral charity.

Government response to universal credit warnings ‘skimpy and disappointing’, says Frank Field

Birkenhead’s MP Frank Field has called two further public meetings this weekend to report on progress being made by the campaign to improve the town’s bus services.

It follows a request from Frank Field MP’s Feeding Birkenhead, Supporting Wirral charity, with the new group hoping to “guarantee every child a nutritious meal at lunchtime”.

Having delivered similar programmes during each school holiday since 2015, Feeding Birkenhead, Supporting Wirral is investing nearly £2,000 in one hundred sessions to ensure as many children as possible can benefit from free or low-cost meals and activities over the next two weeks.

Frank Field MP today proposes a reform programme, relating to employment law and its enforcement, with the objective of ending the rampant injustice that afflicts all too many workers in the gig economy.

The Birkenhead MP, chairman of the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act, said: “This is an important report that begins to highlight the need to support victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

BIRKENHEAD MP Frank Field has led a review calling for the ‘urgent’ national roll-out of a Government scheme which aims to ensure young victims of modern slavery and human trafficking are properly cared for.

There are two ways of building on the success of the national living wage (NLW) in countering low pay.

Frank Field MP, the chair of the committee, said: “We have heard sufficient evidence, and are sufficiently worried, to launch this inquiry to begin to establish what lies behind the shocking reports of people being forced to exchange sex to meet survival needs.”

Independent Labour MP Frank Field has questioned The Pensions Regulator about what will happen to the Interserve defined benefit pension scheme and its members after the contractor was sold last week.

The idea that, at this late stage, the UK should crash out of the EU without a deal is absurd. Large numbers of firms and jobs in manufacturing would disappear. The prospect of no deal has been kept on the negotiating table for two years, to give our negotiators some leverage, but any last-ditch attempts at seriously pursuing this destructive fantasy must be stopped. I voted last night to take no deal off the table.

Frank Field MP accused the Department for Work and Pensions of allowing the complex benefits system to cause “considerable distress” to people with a terminal diagnosis

The proposal has support from Birkenhead MP Frank Field

Chester was the latest stop on a fact-finding mission by a pair of MPs seeking the end of the freeze on benefits which is making life even tougher for those in society who are struggling.

The organisation, set up by Frank Field MP in 2014, recently provided meals and activities for 500 children during the February half term.

In a letter to Amber Rudd, independent MP Frank Field, who chairs the committee, said the Joseph Rowntree Foundation had estimated that ending the freeze a year early would lift 200,000 people out of poverty and see 13.7 million people on benefits receive an average of £270 more.

Frank Field, the Independent MP who chairs the Work and Pensions Committee, said “enough is enough” when it came to cuts to those on benefits and advised the Government to take action next month when delivering the Spring Statement.

MP says more and more people feel trapped

A WIRRAL MP is calling on Deliveroo to guarantee an hourly rate pay for its delivery drivers ahead of the company’s launch in Birkenhead next month. The town’s MP Frank Field has written to Will Shu, chief executive of the food delivery company, asking him to offer employees the rate on a trial basis when the service hits the town in March.

Meals and activities for children in Birkenhead, and across Wirral, in the school holidays

The two public meetings will take place on Saturday 23rd February and are open to all residents. The first meeting will begin at 9.45am and is being held at St Andrew’s Church Hall, Noctorum. The second meeting will begin at 10.45am and is being held at The Little Centre, Beechwood.

Birkenhead MP Frank Field has requested an urgent meeting with the chief constable to discuss community safety issues following a shooting in his constituency.

Frank Field and Heidi Allen went to Morecambe Bay to hear heart-rending stories of locals hit by Government cuts and frustrated by welfare red tape

A WIRRAL MP’s campaign against the injustice of cash machine charges in deprived areas has resulted in major national reform of the service.

In September 2016, Frank published a report on Hermes couriers’ pay and conditions. Following the report’s publication, Frank gained a commitment from the GMB union to pursue an Employment Tribunal claim on behalf of Hermes couriers. The claim was successful and led to the negotiation of a new ‘self-employed plus’ contract being announced today.