Teresa Pearce

Teresa Pearce (born 1 February 1955)[1] is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Erith and Thamesmead from 2010 to 2019,[2] who was appointed as a Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning in September 2015.[3] In the reshuffle of October 2016, Pearce was appointed as acting Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, standing down after the 2017 general election to concentrate on her constituency.[4]

This article is about the British politician. For the American politician of a similar name, see Teresa Pierce.

Teresa Pearce
Official Parliamentary portrait, June 2017
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
In office
7 October 2016 – 14 June 2017
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byGrahame Morris
Succeeded byAndrew Gwynne
Member of Parliament
for Erith and Thamesmead
In office
6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byJohn Austin
Succeeded byAbena Oppong-Asare
Personal details
Born (1955-02-01) 1 February 1955
Southport, Lancashire, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)Paul O'Neill
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life

Teresa Pearce was born in Southport, Lancashire,[5] but was educated at the St Thomas More School in Eltham, London. For ten years prior to her election, she was a senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is a former Bexley councillor.[6]

Parliamentary career

Pearce was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Erith and Thamesmead in the 2010 general election with a majority of 5,703.[7] In her maiden speech she stated her pride in the Labour Party's track record on Sure Start, the future jobs fund and the national minimum wage.[8]

In 2015, she was re-elected with an increased majority of 9,525, gaining just under 50% of the vote.[9]

In Parliament, Pearce served on a number of Select Committees between 2010 and 2015, sitting on both the Work and Pensions Select Committee (2010–2015) and the Treasury Select Committee (2011–2015).[10] Pearce also shortly served on the Public Accounts Committee (2015) before she was appointed to serve as Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning in September 2015.[3] She was appointed as the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in the October 2016 reshuffle, but it was announced she intends to stand down from the post after the May 2017 local elections.[4][11]

She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election.[12]

Pearce was re-elected in the general election 2017, with an increased majority of 10,014, gaining over 57% of the vote.[13]

In July 2019, Pearce announced that she would stand down at the next general election.[14]

Personal life

Pearce has two adult daughters.[15] She had her first daughter when she was 18 and said she knows from experience what it is like to be "written off" as a teenage mother.[15] She has 5 grandchildren.

References
  1. "Teresa Pearce MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  2. "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8735.
  3. Chakelian, Anoosh (18 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet: the full list of ministers". New Statesman. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  4. Staff writer (7 October 2016). "Shadow Cabinet line-up in full". LabourList. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  5. Staff writer. "Teresa Pearce (Labour Party) – PPC for Erith and Thamesmead". YourNextMP. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  6. Kite, Melissa (18 April 2009). "Labour ballot box tampering row deepens". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  7. Staff writer (7 May 2010). "Erith & Thamesmead". BBC News. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  8. Teresa Pearce, Member of Parliament for Erith and Thamesmead (10 June 2010). "Tackling Poverty in the UK". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 511. United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 531–534.
  9. Staff writer (8 May 2015). "Election 2015: Erith & Thamesmead parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  10. "Teresa Pearce MP". parliament.uk. UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  11. Asthana, Anushka (2 April 2017). "Teresa Pearce to step down as shadow communities secretary". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  12. "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith". LabourList. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  13. Staff writer (9 June 2017). "Election 2015: Erith & Thamesmead parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  14. Bull, Tom (12 July 2019). "Teresa Pearce MP won't stand at next election". Bexley Times. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  15. Moorhead, Joanna (10 January 2015). "We're glad we chose to be mothers in our teens". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
John Austin		 Member of Parliament
for Erith and Thamesmead
2010–2019		 Succeeded by
Abena Oppong-Asare
Political offices
Preceded by
Grahame Morris		 Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
2016–2017		 Succeeded by
Roberta Blackman-Woods
Shadow Minister for the Constitutional Convention
2016–2017
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