Catherine McKinnell: Difference between revisions

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[[Category:Labour Members of Parliament]]
 
{{Infobox MP
|name = Catherine McKinnell
|honorific-suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MP}}
|office = [[Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales|Shadow Attorney General]]
|leader = [[Jeremy Corbyn]]
|term_start = 14 September 2015
|term_end = 11 January 2016
|predecessor = [[Willy Bach, Baron Bach|The Lord Bach]]
|successor = [[Karl Turner (British politician)|Karl Turner]]
|office1 = [[Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury|Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury]]
|leader1 = [[Ed Miliband]]
|term_start1 = 15 May 2012
|term_end1 = 8 October 2013
|predecessor1 = [[Owen Smith]]
|successor1 = [[Shabana Mahmood]]
|office2 = Member of Parliament<br>for [[Newcastle upon Tyne North (UK Parliament constituency)|Newcastle upon Tyne North]]
|term_start2 = 6 May 2010
|term_end2 =
|predecessor2 = [[Doug Henderson (Labour politician)|Doug Henderson]]
|successor2 =
|majority2 = 10,349 (21.5%)
|birth_name = Catherine Grady
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1976|6|8|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom|UK]]
|death_date =
|death_place =
|party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
|alma_mater = [[University of Edinburgh]]
|website = {{url|catherinemckinnell.co.uk|Official website}}
|image=Official portrait of Catherine McKinnell crop 2.jpg}}
'''Catherine McKinnell''' (born 8 June 1976) is a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] [[politician]] who has been the [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Newcastle upon Tyne North (UK Parliament constituency)|Newcastle upon Tyne North]] since the [[United Kingdom general election, 2010|2010 general election]].<ref>{{cite news| last = Staff writer|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/8134398.stm|title=Two North East MPs standing down|work=BBC News|date=4 July 2009|access-date=7 May 2010}}</ref> She has held several Shadow Cabinet positions, including [[Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales|Shadow Attorney General]], but resigned from this post in January 2016.<ref>{{cite news | last = Staff writer |title= Shadow Attorney General resigns over Labour policies|url=http://www.thecatholicuniverse.com/attornet-general-resigns-in-concerns-over-labour-direction-7603 |work=Catholic Universe |date=12 January 2016 | access-date = 15 January 2016}}</ref>
 
==Early life==
McKinnell was born in [[Denton, Newcastle upon Tyne|Denton]], [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], where she attended the Sacred Heart Comprehensive School in [[Fenham]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://ukpolitics.telegraph.co.uk/Newcastle+upon+Tyne+North/Catherine+McKinnell|title=Catherine McKinnell|work=Daily Telegraph|accessdate=23 June 2010|location=London}}</ref> She studied politics and history at the [[University of Edinburgh]].<ref name=":0" />
 
Before her election to Parliament, McKinnell worked as an employment solicitor in the Newcastle law firm [[Dickinson Dees]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.catherinemckinnell.co.uk/about-catherine/|title=About Catherine|date=27 March 2015|work=Catherine McKinnell|access-date=10 June 2017|language=en-US}}</ref>
 
==Parliamentary career==
McKinnell was first elected to Parliament at the [[United Kingdom general election, 2010|2010 general election]] for [[Newcastle upon Tyne North (UK Parliament constituency)|Newcastle upon Tyne North]], one of 19 solicitors newly elected to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/nineteen-new-solicitor-mps-enter-house-commons |title=Nineteen new solicitor MPs enter House of Commons. |last=Baksi |first=Catherine |date=13 May 2010 |work=Law Society Gazette |accessdate=23 June 2010}}</ref> She was elected with 40.8% of the vote, and a majority of 3,414 over her [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] rival.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/d07.stm|title=Election 2010 - Newcastle-upon-Tyne North|work=BBC News|accessdate=7 May 2010}}</ref> In October 2010, the Labour Leader [[Ed Miliband]] appointed her to the role of [[Solicitor General for England and Wales|Shadow Solicitor General]], where she was responsible for the party's response to the [[News International phone hacking scandal]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.labourlist.org/junior-front-bench-roles |title=Junior front bench roles |last=Ferguson |first=Mark |date=11 October 2010 |work=Labour List |accessdate=11 October 2010 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101012054724/http://www.labourlist.org/junior-front-bench-roles |archivedate=12 October 2010 |df=dmy-all
}}</ref> She raised questions about the [[Crown Prosecution Service]]'s handling of the scandal, including a question to the [[Attorney General for England and Wales|Attorney General]] in the House of Commons asking why the CPS had refused for so long to admit that there were grounds to bring prosecutions.<ref>{{cite hansard |jurisdiction=United Kingdom |house=[[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] | title = Oral answers to questions, Attorney-General: Contempt of Court | url = https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110705/debtext/110705-0001.htm#11070565000681 |date= 5 July 2011 |column_start= 1368 |column_end= 1369|speaker=Catherine McKinnell |position=[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]] for [[Newcastle upon Tyne North (UK Parliament constituency)|Newcastle upon Tyne North]]}}</ref>
 
In October 2011, during a shadow ministerial reshuffle, Catherine McKinnell was made shadow children's minister, shadowing [[Tim Loughton]]. In that post she criticised the adoption process as too slow and called for immediate improvements in support for social workers and family courts to speed up the process.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/fostering-system-on-the-brink-as-number-of-children-in-care-soars-7718689.html | location=London | work=The Independent | first=Jonathan | last=Brown | title=Fostering system on the brink as number of children in care soars | date=7 May 2012 | access-date = 22 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/mar/14/council-scorecards-adoption-overhaul | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Randeep | last=Ramesh | title=Councils face scorecards in adoption overhaul | date=14 March 2012 | access-date = 22 July 2012}}</ref> She also accused the government of doing too little to help children for whom adoption was not suitable and following this, requested a guarantee that the government would give priority to placing children in "happy homes|.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.catherinemckinnellmp.co.uk/2011/12/|title=December 2011 Archives|work=Catherine McKinnell MP|access-date=11 June 2017|language=en-GB}}</ref>
 
In 2012, after the resignation of [[Peter Hain]], she was then moved to become Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, replacing [[Owen Smith (politician)|Owen Smith]].
 
McKinnell backed a campaign by [[ActionAid]] on international tax laws<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/CatMcKinnellMP/status/215047566201602049|title=@CatMcKinnellMP making a thoughtful and powerful speech. In Finance Bill Ctee on CFCs and developing countries|first=Cathy|last=Jamieson|date=19 June 2012|publisher=Twitter| access-date = 22 July 2012}}</ref> and tabled amendments to the Budget which would have required the government to monitor the impact on developing countries of changes to so-called Controlled Foreign Companies regulations. She said, "It seems a false economy to invest ... in changes that will undermine the very progress towards which our international aid money, which increases year on year, is going."<ref>{{cite hansard |jurisdiction=United Kingdom |house=[[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] | title = Public Bill Committee: Finance Bill | url = https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmpublic/finance/120619/am/120619s01.html |date= 19 June 2012 |column_start= 479 |column_end= 481 |speaker=Catherine McKinnell |position=[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]] for [[Newcastle upon Tyne North (UK Parliament constituency)|Newcastle upon Tyne North]]}}</ref> In June 2012, McKinnell publicly criticised [[Take That]] singer [[Gary Barlow]] following newspaper allegations of [[tax avoidance]] made against him. McKinnell agreed that Barlow should consider returning his recently awarded [[OBE]] if allegations of tax avoidance were proven "because it doesn't send out the right messages to ordinary people who are paying their fair share of tax".<ref>{{cite news| last = Staff writer | url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18535642 | title= Cameron ducks Gary Barlow tax avoidance question | work=BBC News | date=21 June 2012 | accessdate=21 June 2012}}</ref>
 
She was made [[Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales|Shadow Attorney General]] in September 2015 by Labour leader [[Jeremy Corbyn]], but resigned in January 2016, citing party infighting, family reasons and the ability to speak in parliament beyond her legal portfolio.<ref>{{cite news| last = Staff writer |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35281203|title=Labour's Catherine McKinnell quits shadow cabinet|work=BBC News|date =11 January 2016 | accessdate= 11 January 2016}}</ref>
 
Mckinnell has been a prominent campaigner for the [[Women Against State Pension Inequality]] campaign, who, following the acceleration of the equalisation of the State Pension Age, have argued that the acceleration has happened too quickly and left female pensioners uncertain.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-mp-says-minister-leaving-10571814|title=Newcastle MP says Minister is leaving North East women 'high and dry' over State Pension age|last=Wearmouth|first=Rachel|date=9 December 2015|work=Newcastle Evening Chronicle|access-date=11 June 2017}}</ref> Mckinnell was also made Vice Chair of the recently established [[All-party parliamentary group|All-Party Parliamentary Group]] on the WASPI campaign.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/what-north-east-mps-doing-11324915|title=What our MPs are doing to help women hit by state pension age changes|last=Walker|first=Jonathan|date=12 May 2016|work=Newcastle Evening Chronicle|access-date=11 June 2017}}</ref>