Trudy Harrison

Trudy Lynne Harrison (born 19 April 1976) is a British Conservative Party politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Copeland since winning the seat at the February 2017 by-election. It was the first time Copeland had elected a Conservative MP since 1931, and it was also the first time Copeland had elected a female MP.[1] Harrison was then re-elected in the June 2017[2] and December 2019 general elections.[3] Harrison worked most recently on the Bootle2020 Programme in her home village; a programme of activities aiming to breathe new life into Bootle for future generations supported by private investors.[4]

Trudy Harrison

MP
Harrison in 2019
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
Assumed office
16 December 2019
Serving with Alex Burghart
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byJames Heappey
Member of Parliament
for Copeland
Assumed office
23 February 2017
Preceded byJamie Reed
Majority5,842 (13.7%)
Personal details
Born (1976-04-19) 19 April 1976
Seascale, England, UK
Political partyConservative
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Salford

Early life

Harrison was born and brought up in Seascale. She was educated at Wyndham School, Egremont.[5] After leaving school, Harrison worked for five years as a technical clerk at Sellafield, before running a childcare business for five years. After taking a four-year career break, two shorter stints of employment followed at Copeland Borough Council, where she worked as a Locality Officer and Community Regeneration Officer. During this time, she completed a Foundation Degree in Sustainable Communities at the University of Salford.[5][6][7]

Prior to standing for Parliament, Harrison had been working on 'Bootle2020' and 'The Wellbank Project' – a linked set of projects for bringing new development to Bootle.[6][7] The Wellbank Project included several phases of proposed property development, with the first phase consisting of eighteen new residential units, which were due to have been built by summer 2018.[8]

Political career

Harrison served as an independent parish councillor in Bootle, Cumbria from 2004 to 2007.[9] Following the resignation of Jamie Reed, the incumbent Labour Party MP for Copeland, Harrison was selected by the Conservative Party to contest the subsequent by-election- having only joined the party one year earlier.[10] The by-election was fought by both the Conservatives and Labour over a number of local issues. Harrison campaigned on a strongly pro-nuclear stance in contrast to Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party. She promised to safeguard thousands of jobs in the constituency by supporting the existing Sellafield site and the possible future Moorside Nuclear Power Station.[11] She also campaigned on a pro-Brexit line and said that Labour wanted "to ignore how we voted in the referendum."[10]

Harrison won the by-election with a majority of 2,147. Her election was seen by many commentators to be historic and a blow to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of Labour.[12] Her victory in the historically solid Labour constituency was the first by-election gain by a governing party since the 1982 Mitcham and Morden by-election and was also the best by-election performance by a governing party in terms of the increase in its share of the vote since January 1966.[13]

Mrs Harrison in 2017.

Harrison made her maiden speech on 25 April 2017, shortly before the General Election, at which she was re-elected. It was well received by The Times newspaper.[14] In her first year in office she was subject to some criticism locally for not holding Constituency Surgeries and for being difficult to contact, as well as limited submissions of written parliamentary questions. She defended her record by pointing to fears over the safety of politicians, following the murder of Jo Cox.[15]

On 6 March 2018, Harrison introduced a Ten Minute Rule Motion that seeks to introduce a ban on wild animals in circuses.[16] This was introduced to the Commons as a Private Members Bill, where Harrison stated "Making wild animals travel in crates and perform unnatural tasks for our amusement does not have my support and nor does it have the support of the public."[17]

Harrison previously served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministry of Defence ministerial team.[18] Harrison served on the Education Committee[19] and was later the Private Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State for Education.[20]

Harrison has questioned the current efficacy of family courts, arguing that they often disadvantage sufferers of domestic abuse.[21]

In July 2019, Harrison supported Michael Gove in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[22]

In October 2019, Harrison voted for Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.[23]

Harrison stood for and won re-election in Copeland at the 2019 general election.[24] Following this she was made Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister.[25]

Personal life

She lives in Bootle and London with her husband Keith, who works as a welder for Shepley Engineers Ltd in the local area, and her four daughters. [26][27]

References
  1. "Copeland (UK Parliament constituency)", Wikipedia, 10 July 2019, retrieved 23 July 2019
  2. "Trudy Harrison MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  3. "Copeland Parliamentary constituency – 2019 results". BBC News. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  4. "About Trudy". Trudy Harrison. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  5. "Harrison, Trudy Lynne". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 2018 (February 2018 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 13 February 2018. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  6. "Trudy Harrison Profile". Linkedin. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  7. "About Trudy". Personal website. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  8. "First Phase Housing Development". Project website. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  9. "Tory candidate for Copeland MP election says Brexit must be respected". News and Star. Cumbria. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  10. Press Association (26 January 2017). "Tories and Labour pick candidates for Copeland and Stoke byelections". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  11. Maguire, Patrick (25 February 2017). "Copeland by-election: Brexit and other issues that could swing the vote". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  12. Stewart, Heather; Asthana, Anushka; Mason, Rowena; Carrell, Severin (24 February 2017). "Corbyn says he is not to blame for Copeland loss and will not resign". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  13. "Tories in historic by-election Copeland win as Labour holds Stoke". BBC News. 24 February 2017. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  14. Kidd, Patrick (25 April 2017). "Maiden speech swanlike in its grace and beauty". The Times. News UK. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  15. "MP Trudy Harrison snubs public surgeries "following Jo Cox murder"". News and Star. 13 September 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  16. Trudy Harrison (5 March 2018). "Trudy Harrison: It's time to stop the use of wild animals in travelling circuses". Politics Home. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  17. "Copeland MP Trudy Harrison's bid to ban wild animals in circuses takes a step forward". News and Star. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  18. "List of Parliamentary Private Secretaries (PPS): September 2018". gov.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  19. "Trudy Harrison MP". gov.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  20. "List of Parliamentary Private Secretaries (PPS): June 2019". gov.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  21. Crack, Cumbria (18 October 2019). "Copeland MP speaks out about family courts and praises a Whitehaven centre". Cumbriacrack.com. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  22. "Trudy Harrison". BBC News. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  23. "Trudy Harrison to vote for Prime Minister's Brexit deal". Whitehaven News. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  24. Sansome, Jessica (14 November 2019). "All the Cumbria General Election 2019 candidates". men. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  25. Thompson, Helen (17 December 2019). "Copeland MP Trudy Harrison is Boris' 'right-hand woman'". News and Star. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  26. Palmer, Ewan (24 February 2017). "Who is Trudy Harrison? New Tory MP for Copeland following historic by-election win". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  27. "IPSA record". IPSA. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Jamie Reed		 Member of Parliament
for Copeland
2017–present		 Incumbent
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