Andrew Adonis

I write this week’s newsletter on a train - or, rather, on four separate trains - winding my way from Warwickshire to Cumbria. Last night I was lucky enough to watch King Lear at Stratford’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre. A foolish leader rips his country apart through hubris and vanity - the Brexit jokes write themselves. As my tour of Brexit-leaning Britain has played out I have seen for myself how much ‘take back control’ resonated with many voters. So many of us have felt dis

I was in Sheffield this week, meeting with local businesses to discuss the future for South Yorkshire. The truth is that Brexit - if it happens - will be a terrible blow for the city and the surrounding region. South Yorkshire’s economy is intimately intertwined with Europe’s - any and all barriers to the export of goods or the import of skills will do huge damage. But while stopping Brexit is necessary to a Yorkshire renaissance, it is not sufficient. The county needs to sei

Moved by Lord Adonis At end insert “and, in the light of the vital importance of the issues raised to the future of the United Kingdom, this House urges the Leader of the House to make representations to government colleagues to ensure amendments made by the House of Lords to the Bill are considered as soon as possible”. "My Lords, I do not think that the House of Lords has spent longer considering any piece of legislation in its 800-year history. I join the Minister in payin

Last Friday I visited the proposed site of the Tidal Barrage in Swansea. This exciting scheme - the first of a whole programme of tidal barrages to produce green energy across Britain - would completely rejuvenate and regenerate Swansea port. It would bring thousands of direct jobs to the city, which desperately needs them. It would create whole new supply chains across the U.K., manufacturing widgets and gadgets to make it work. And the programme would eventually generate en

In my New Statesman column this week I argue that politicians can no longer escape the fact that a rethink on Brexit is necessary. Read more here: http://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/andrew-adonis-brexit-labour-house-of-lords-1-5511947

Like campaigners up and down the country, I spent much of this week knocking on doors and asking people to vote in the local elections. I campaigned for fantastic candidates across London, including in Chingford and Barnet, many of whom have been elected and will serve their communities brilliantly. But campaigning for Labour was not as easy a sell as it should have been given the impact of this Government’s austerity on public and local services. Time and again I was asked w