richard howitt

Richard Howitt is a Labour Member of the European Parliament for the East of England, first elected in 1994.

He is Vice Chair of the Human Rights Sub Committee, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy and is the Labour European Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs. Richard is a member of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, and was recently a member of the Parliament mission to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, and to monitor the Palestinian Presidential elections.

Richard says:

Supporting issues in the European parliament that make direct improvements to the lives of my constituents has always been of utmost importance.

I campaigned passionately for legislation passed in 2002 that has protected pension rights and given part time workers paid holiday rights.

As more and more older people stay in work, or take up new work, we will need to look at employee rights and I am determined to ensure that they are treated fairly.

The right to Trade Union representation is one I am determined to see upheld. When Elstree employers T Mobile were taken over by Deutsche Telekom it looked as if their workers’ rights in this respect were under theeat. I met with Amicus shop stewards and lobbied management to try and secure protection for them.

       

He is also a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and is European Parliament Spokesperson on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). He successfully led the preparation of the Parliamentary report on CSR, which represented a major step towards establishing international regulation for multinational companies.