Maurice Morrow

Maurice George Morrow, Baron Morrow (born 27 September 1948)[1] is a Northern Irish unionist politician. He was made a life peer in June 2006. He was also a councillor on Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council representing Dungannon Town.

The Right Honourable

The Lord Morrow
Morrow in 2019
Minister for Communities
In office
12 January 2016 – 25 May 2016
First MinisterArlene Foster
Preceded byMervyn Storey
Succeeded byPaul Givan
Minister for Social Development
In office
27 July 2000 – 24 October 2001
First MinisterDavid Trimble
Preceded byNigel Dodds
Succeeded byNigel Dodds
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
7 June 2006
Life Peerage
Member of the Legislative Assembly
for Fermanagh & South Tyrone
In office
25 June 1998 – 26 January 2017
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Personal details
Born
Maurice George Morrow

(1948-09-27) 27 September 1948
Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyDemocratic Unionist Party
Children2

He was educated at Ballygawley Primary School, Dungannon Secondary and Dungannon Technical College, following which he pursued a career as an estate agent. His political career began in 1973 when he was elected to Fermanagh District Council. He served as a MLA of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998, until losing his seat in 2017. In July 2000 he became Minister for Social Development in the Northern Ireland Executive, a position held until October 2001, during which time he was credited with implementing policies recognising the needs of the elderly, the farming community and introduced new measures to tackle welfare fraud.

It was announced on 11 April 2006 that Morrow would be one of the first three members of the DUP to be created life peers,[2] giving the party its first representation in the House of Lords. He was created Baron Morrow, of Clogher Valley in the County of Tyrone, on 7 June 2006[3] and was formally introduced to the House of Lords on 27 June.[4]

The other DUP peers appointed as "working" life peers were Wallace Browne, former Lord Mayor of Belfast, and Eileen Paisley, a former vice-president of the DUP and wife of the late Leader of the DUP, Ian Paisley. At the same time, it was announced that David Trimble, former MP and former leader of the Ulster Unionists, was also being appointed as a working life peer.

Personal life

Morrow is married and has two daughters. He maintains an interest in rural development.

Recent history

In 2012 his constituency office in Dungannon was broken into and ransacked. Morrow vowed it would be business as usual despite the burglary.[5][6]

After hearing testimony about children and adults forced to work in brothels, farms and factories, including that of a Romanian woman who had been kidnapped in London and forced to work as a prostitute in Ireland, he put forward a bill to the Northern Ireland Assembly: the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act, passed in 2015, which made Northern Ireland the first and only place in the UK where the act of buying sex is a crime. The act of selling sex, by contrast, was decriminalised.[7] The law was opposed by campaigners who wished to see the total decriminalisation of sex work.[8] An application for judicial review failed on the death of the campaigner who had proposed it.[9]

Voting Record

Lord Morrow has voted consistently for educational autonomy of educational institutions (schools).[10] Lord Morrow has also voted against raising the tuition fees.[11]

References
  1. "MLA Details: Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley". Aims.niassembly.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  2. "No. 58007". The London Gazette. 12 June 2006. p. 8001.
  3. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/58007
  4. Minute Office, House of Lords. "House of Lords – Minute". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  5. Harrison, Claire. "The Belfast Telegraph – Business as usual, burgled MLA Maurice Morrow vows". The Belfast Telegraph. The Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  6. "Lord Morrow's Dungannon office ransacked". BBC News. 28 February 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  7. "'I was kidnapped in London and trafficked for sex'". Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  8. Laura Lee. "'Lies, damn lies and TORL statistics'". Laura Lee. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  9. "Laura Lee legal battle over prostitution laws formally withdrawn following her death". Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  10. "TheyWorkForYou Voting Record, Lord Morrow". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  11. "Raising Undergraduate Tuition Fees, Full Debate". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
Northern Ireland Forum
New forum Member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone
1996–1998		 Forum dissolved
Northern Ireland Assembly
New assembly MLA for Fermanagh & South Tyrone
1998–2017		 Seat abolished
Party political offices
Preceded by
James McClure		 Chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party
2000?–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Nigel Dodds		 Minister for Social Development
2000–2001		 Succeeded by
Nigel Dodds
Preceded by
Mervyn Storey		 Minister for Communities
2016		 Succeeded by
Paul Givan
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Lord Sheikh		 Gentlemen
Baron Morrow 		Followed by
The Lord Morris of Handsworth
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