Roberta Blackman-Woods



Roberta Blackman-Woods MP (born Roberta Carol Woods; 16 August 1957) has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of Durham since 2005.

Parliamentary career
In 2004, Blackman-Woods was selected as the Labour candidate for the City of Durham constituency. In her previous work she had been known by her maiden name, Roberta Woods. She added her husband's surname, Blackman, after selection by the constituency Labour Party, to avoid confusion with Liberal Democrat candidate Carol Woods.

Blackman-Woods was a member of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments from 2005–2010 and has also been a member of the Education and Skills Select Committee and the Business, Innovation, Science and Skills Select Committee. In 2006 she became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Hilary Armstrong. This post lasted until Armstrong returned to the backbenches when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, but Blackman-Woods was then appointed PPS to the Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne, in 2007. Following Des Brown's retirement to the backbenches she served as PPS to David Lammy MP as Minister of State for Higher Education.

In 2005, she became Chair of the All Party Afghanistan Group and in 2007 she also became Chair of the All Party Balanced and Sustainable Communities Group. She was appointed Shadow Minister for Business in June 2010, before being moved to shadow the Civil Society Minister by new Labour Leader Ed Miliband in October 2010. In the October 2011 shadow cabinet re-shuffle, Blackman-Woods was moved to Shadow Minister in Communities and Local Government covering planning policy and procurement.Template:Citation needed In May 2015, she was confirmed as the shadow housing minister.

On 3 July 2017 she was appointed as a Shadow International Development Minister by Corbyn.