#GE2024 | 500 Words: Laurence Turner • Labour • Birmingham Northfield

As part of our 2024 General Election coverage, we have contacted each candidate standing in Northfield, Bromsgrove, Edgbaston and Selly Oak constituencies asking them to contribute to this election’s ‘500 Words’ series. We have also asked the same of each candidate in the local council by-elections for Northfield and Kings Norton North wards.

Each candidate has been invited to describe themselves and their campaigns in their own words. Their submissions will be published without editing, in the order that they are received. Should they be longer than 500 words, they will be cropped.

Laurence Turner • Labour • Birmingham Northfield

Local communities need a hardworking MP and a strong voice in Parliament.

And after 14 years of the Conservatives, we can’t afford more of the same.
I know how to get things done. As a trade unionist, I’ve fought for and helped win decent pay and treatment for thousands of key workers.

I successfully campaigned to get the law changed to strengthen sentences for sexual assaults against police officers, ambulance workers and firefighters.

If I am elected as MP on 04 July, I will work hard every day to deliver. I will:
• Bring back an advertised office in the constituency with a dedicated team of caseworkers.
• Hold regular surgeries.
• Live in the constituency and be a full part of the life of the community.

Labour is about work and public service. But people are still struggling with the cost-of-living. I’ve helped develop Labour’s plan to make work pay and stand up for security and dignity in the workplace. Now we need to see it through.

There is a huge amount to be done. Essential services and housing standards too often fall short. People are facing unacceptable delays for ambulances and NHS appointments. Police and other emergency services are stretched to breaking point. Our schools are struggling to fund the services that children need.

One issue that is close to my heart is SEND education. Resources aren’t reaching enough children who need it. Families are forced to fight tooth and nail for provision. The system needs reform. It is a cause that I want to be a voice for locally and in Parliament.

I will fight for the investment that communities need.

The Conservatives have let Birmingham down. More than 40p in the pound has been cut. Every single bid to the Levelling Up Fund was denied – including t to revitalise Northfield high street. Instead, Rishi Sunak boasted that he had taken money away from Birmingham and what he called ‘deprived urban areas.’

They don’t deserve a second chance.

Labour’s policies, like funding breakfast clubs in schools, will make a real and meaningful difference. And I will fight for more jobs as the redevelopment of the MG Rover site continues. I will work with Richard Parker and campaign for better transport infrastructure and services across the constituency, including in the outer estates.

Birmingham has a proud past and it can have a better future. Most of my family are from south Birmingham and I will always fight for this place. I will never talk our communities down. I will work with councillors – including Labour’s outstanding council candidates Carmel Corrigan and Esther Rai – to rebuild the essential services that have been reduced, or cut completely.
Politics should be a public service. It is a privilege to have the chance to serve. If I am elected, I will work hard each day to give the give people in Northfield the representation they deserve.

Hustings

A chance to hear directly from your candidates, any hustings we are aware of will be listed below. Please let us know of any not listed.