A BRADFORD MP has secured a junior role in Labour's top team, it has been announced.

Bradford East MP Imran Hussain has been appointed as parliamentary private secretary to the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Diane Abbott.

Today, Mr Hussain took his seat on the front row at the Labour Party conference in Brighton, alongside colleagues in the shadow International Development team.

Of his appointment to the role, he said: "I'm pleased to take up a role within the Shadow International Development team, working alongside Diane Abbott, Mike Kane and Lord Collins, who I met earlier on this afternoon, and I look forward to working with them.

"The role involves working closely with, and advising, the Shadow Secretary of State both inside and outside the House of Commons, and we will be holding the Government to account on its shameful handling of international development issues and the refugee crisis."

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Mr Hussain said he was proud to be at his first Labour conference as an MP, and would be using the opportunity to draw attention to some of Bradford's biggest problems, from poverty to poor performances in the district's schools.

He said: "The Labour Party annual conference is an important occasion and exercise in democracy where Labour Party members debate policy to be taken forward by the party, and I am proud to be here for my first Labour conference as an MP representing Bradford East.

"At conference I'll be meeting with a range of organisations to highlight the issues of poor education, low skills and endemic poverty in Bradford and to fight to help bring about solutions to these problems."

Meanwhile, shadow chancellor John McDonnell set out how a Labour government would balance Britain's books "fairly", avoiding the cuts to benefits and services resulting from Conservative austerity

In his first major speech in the post, Mr McDonnell laid the ground for tax hikes on the rich, saying that when a Labour government needs to raise money it will do so by "fairer, more progressive taxation" which does not impose a burden on middle and low-earners.

He promised an "aggressive" drive to force multinational corporations like Starbucks, Vodafone, Amazon and Google to pay "their fair share of taxes" and to cut "subsidies" enjoyed by business.

And he said Labour would boost growth through an "active monetary policy" - effectively printing money to stimulate the economy.

Mr McDonnell's blueprint won a wary reaction from business, with the CBI warning that an active monetary policy could fuel inflation and drive up interest rates, while the British Chambers of Commerce said Labour "must not confuse supporting growth with state control over the economy".

Elsewhere at the party conference, Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox spoke at a round table discussion with Transport for London yesterday lunchtime.

The discussion was about how transport could support economic growth.

In her role as a member of the communities and local government select committee, she was part of the discussion exploring Labour's visions for the future of urban transport, asking how leaders within cities can use new powers to improve local transport in their area.

Mrs Cox said: "It is an incredibly important challenge to ensure we are looking at transport policy and working to ensure our policies and strategies locally, regionally and nationally are as fluid and flexible as possible.

"This was a fascinating debate, and one of the most important things to come out of it was a review of the criteria that assesses what makes good transport investment. We need to broaden our thinking beyond simply looking at journey times. What about creating jobs?

"There was also attention on making sure we get the geography of policy right - how best to we serve cities but also the towns and communities in between, as well as looking at the national projects and how they all link together.

"I also spoke about the need to ensure we narrow the north/south divide in respect of transport investment - there is a huge disparity between what is spent on transport in London per head of population compared with what is spent in regions such as ours. This has to be addressed."

The conference runs until Wednesday.