February 1, 2021 (House of Commons) When the horrific fire at Grenfell Tower struck in June 2017, I was London’s Deputy Mayor for Housing. Madam Deputy Speaker, if you had told me then that, three-and-a-half years later, we would still be trying to force the Government to make buildings safe,…

January 25, 2021 (House of Commons) Over the past nine months, we have seen the shameful tactics of fire and rehire used to hit workers in the middle of a pandemic and in the worst economic crisis in 300 years. The inaction of this Government as that has happened has…

January 18, 2021 (House of Commons) Our country went into 2021 with soaring covid infection rates, the highest excess death rate in Europe, and having had the worst recession of any major economy. Whatever happens with the vaccination programme, we face many more months of restrictions and the economic impacts…

May 13, 2020 The government’s neglect of care homes is one of the greatest failures of this crisis. It should be an absolute priority for the Government to protect residents and workers in care homes. But the testimony of care workers reveals a shameful pattern of neglect The failure to…

April 29, 2020 Local government can play a crucial role in coronavirus community testing The government may have belatedly started to realise the importance of community testing and contact tracing – but they run the risk of again being slow to realise the crucial role local government could play. Like…

February 3, 2020 We must end the profiteering approach to adult social care  Social care is in crisis – we need to start putting people first, rather than profit, writes James Murray MP Social care is in crisis: 1.5m people over 65 do not get the social care that they…

January 16, 2020 Maiden Speech The maiden speech to the House of Commons by James Murray, on January 16, 2020, during the Queen’s Speech debate on health and social care.