Chuka Umunna

Politician

United Kingdom

1978 - Present

73 quotes

Showing 10 of 73 quotes

My dad was this pint-sized Nigerian with an oversized personality. My mother is a tall six foot something Irish-English woman. Us walking down the street was quite an unusual sight, when I was growing up.
Chuka Umunna
Some people welcome the flexibility of a zero-hours contract. But their growth is symptomatic of a wider issue - increasing job insecurity and falling living standards in David Cameron's Britain.
Chuka Umunna
It was a Labour prime minister who appointed the first black male and female cabinet ministers.
Chuka Umunna
My father was a rags-to-riches businessman who came over in the Sixties with no money. On my mother's side, I am the grandson of a High Court judge and celebrated intelligence officer, so it's quite an unusual combination.
Chuka Umunna
With Tory privatisations in the past we've seen how service users can end up losing out and getting a raw deal.
Chuka Umunna
We must stop looking to the past and focus on ensuring everyone has a stake in the future.
Chuka Umunna
We want to see more sources of alternative finance, from innovations in factoring such as MarketInvoice or in peer-to-peer lending such as Funding Circle which Labour local authorities are now using to support and invest in local businesses.
Chuka Umunna
Back in the 1980s parts of our country were devastated by de-industrialisation. This wave of globalisation and the first fruits of technological innovation destroyed industrial jobs or exported them to low-wage economies. The loss of work had a devastating impact.
Chuka Umunna
I spent many hours slaving away, day and night, bleary eyed, on multi-million pound takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, and the rest. It could sound glamorous (especially when it involved overseas travel) but often it wasn't partly because, as a lawyer, you were not the one calling the shots.
Chuka Umunna
While we are clear that it is right that those who work hard, generate wealth and create jobs for our country are rewarded, where failure is rewarded or people award themselves huge pay rises that bear no relation to performance or what their companies can bear, trust is severely undermined.
Chuka Umunna