Anneliese Jane Dodds (born 16 March 1978) is a BritishLabour and Co-operative politician and public policy analyst who served asMinister of State for Development andMinister of State for Women and Equalities from July 2024 to February 2025.[1][2] She previously served asChair of the Labour Party from 2021 to 2024. She wasShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from April 2020 to May 2021, the first woman to hold the position, andShadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities from 2021 to 2024. She has beenMember of Parliament (MP) forOxford East since2017 and was aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) forSouth East England from2014 to 2017.
Born inAberdeen, Dodds went to school atRobert Gordon's College, before going to readphilosophy, politics and economics as an undergraduate atSt Hilda's College, Oxford. Subsequently, she took a master's degree inSocial Policy at theUniversity of Edinburgh, and a PhD degree in government at theLondon School of Economics. She lectured in Public Policy atKing's College London andAston University. After joining theLabour Party, Dodds contestedBillericay unsuccessfully at the2005 general election andReading East at the2010 general election.
Dodds was elected to theEuropean Parliament at the2014 European Parliament election. She resigned herSouth East England seat when she was elected to theHouse of Commons at the2017 general election. She served in theShadow Treasury Team of Shadow ChancellorJohn McDonnell asShadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 2017 to 2020. In this role, she supported calls for a confirmatoryreferendum on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. In April 2020, she was appointedShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer by new Labour leaderKeir Starmer. She was demoted from the role in areshuffle after the2021 local elections, and appointed Chair of the Party and Policy Review. She gained the additionalShadow Women and Equalities Secretary brief in September 2021, followingMarsha de Cordova's resignation.
Anneliese Dodds was born inAberdeen, Scotland, and was educated at Dunnottar Primary School inStonehaven and the private co-educational day schoolRobert Gordon's College in Aberdeen.[3] She then studiedphilosophy, politics and economics atSt Hilda's College, Oxford.[4] While at Oxford, she was involved with student activism and ran for president ofOxford University Student Union (OUSU) in 1998. She was fined £75 for breaking election rules by canvassing using email.[5][6] In 1999, she became OUSU president, serving until 2000.[7][8] She took part in protests against the introduction oftuition fees in 2000 and in support ofLGBT rights.[5] She graduated in 2001 with a first-class degree.[9]
Dodds later studied for amaster's degree inSocial Policy at theUniversity of Edinburgh, and a PhD degree in government at theLondon School of Economics, where she completed a thesis on liberalisation in higher education in France and the UK in 2006.[10][11] She also had her postdoctoral fellowship at the LSE funded by theEconomic and Social Research Council.[10]
Dodds was a lecturer in Public Policy atKing's College London from 2007 to 2010 and a senior lecturer in Public Policy atAston University from 2010 to 2014.[12][13] Her research interests were in regulation and risk in the public sector,[10][12] and she has been published in journals such asThe Political Quarterly,[14]Public Policy and Administration,[15] and theBritish Journal of General Practice.[16] In 2018, the second edition of her book,Comparative Public Policy, was published by Red Globe Press, an imprint ofPalgrave Macmillan.[17]
At the2005 general election, Dodds stood unsuccessfully as theLabour Party candidate inBillericay, where she finished second with 29.2% of the vote behind the incumbentConservative Party MPJohn Baron.[18]
She was also unsuccessful in the2006 Oxford City council elections[19] for the ward ofHolywell.
Dodds also stood unsuccessfully in the2010 general election inReading East, finishing third with 25.5% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MPRob Wilson and theLiberal Democrat candidate.[20]
Dodds was elected as aMember of the European Parliament for theSouth East England region in2014.[21] In the European Parliament, she sat on theCommittee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.[22] In the2015 Labour leadership election, she supportedYvette Cooper.[23]
At the snap2017 general election, Dodds was elected to Parliament as MP forOxford East, winning with 65.2% of the vote and a majority of 23,284.[24][25][26]
On 3 July 2017, she was appointed as a Shadow Treasury Minister by Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn.[27] In April 2019, she supported calls for asecond Brexit referendum.[28] She was vice-chair of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing from 2018 to 2019.[29][30]
Dodds was re-elected as MP for Oxford East at the2019 general election with a decreased vote share of 57% and a decreased majority of 17,832.[31]
On 5 April 2020, Dodds was appointedShadow Chancellor of the Exchequer by the newly elected Labour leaderKeir Starmer, becoming the first woman to hold this position.[32] Some commentators argued that she struggled to make an impact on the political discussion in the context of generous government spending during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[33][34] In March 2021,The Sunday Times reported that Starmer was preparing to dismiss Dodds.[35] Two months later, after a set of relatively poor results for Labour at the2021 local elections she was removed from her position in ashadow cabinet reshuffle and replaced withRachel Reeves. She was then given a role previously held by Deputy LeaderAngela Rayner as the party's chair.[36]
Dodds becameShadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities in September 2021, following the resignation of previous office holderMarsha de Cordova.[37]
In June 2024, Dodds was reselected as the Labour candidate for Oxford East at the2024 general election.[38] In July 2024 she was re-elected as MP for Oxford East with a decreased vote share of 49.7% and a decreased majority of 14,465.[39] In July 2024, Dodds was appointedInternational Development Minister andWomen and Equalities Minister.[40][41]
At the end of 2024 she went to southern Africa and announced that £39m would be made available in Malawi to allow 1,500 secondary schoolgirls to receive educational support, scholarships and teacher training.[42]
In February 2025, Dodds resigned as International Development Minister after the UK Government announced that spending on international aid would fall from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% in 2027 to fund an increase in defence spending. Dodds argued that the move would "remove food and healthcare from desperate people - deeply harming the UK's reputation".[43]
LabourList has described Dodds as a "unity candidate", explaining that although she is not a "Corbynite", she was supported by her predecessor as Shadow Chancellor,John McDonnell,[44] and theFinancial Times has said that she is on the "soft left" of the party.[45] In terms of her position onBrexit, she is aremainer, and supported calls for asecond referendum on the issue.[28]
While Labour candidate for Reading East in the 2010 election, she explained several of her policy positions, including how she wouldn't take the full salary available to MPs if elected, instead, only taking the average salary of the constituency and "invest[ing] the rest in an improved service" for constituents.[46] On the economy, she argued for increased support for those who need retraining, and those who arelong-term unemployed. Furthermore, she stated her desire for "smarter" regulation of the financial system.[47] In terms of criminal justice, she said that helping drug addicts end their dependency, and prosecuting drug dealers whose customers end up dying was important; and in terms of education, she maintained it was important to "better join up children's services across the fields of education, child care, health care and social services".[47]
She described the problem ofclimate change as a "climate 'emergency'", and wanted to see "far more radical change" to protect against therisks of climate change, suggesting several actions that could help do so, such as banning domestic flights, making it easier to build wind farms, and increased investment ingreen technology.[47][48] However, she further explained how these actions should be "realistic and fair", and not be funded by "expensive green taxes".[47] In September 2019, she wrote on her website that she had taken part inclimate marches, and explained her interest in ideas to promote increasing cycling andpublic transport in Oxford, and how "we simply cannot return to business as usual in the next parliamentary session".[49]
During the2019 general election campaign, she argued in support of Labour's plans to increasecorporation tax because she believes "those with the broadest shoulders" should contribute more.[50]
After being appointed Shadow Chancellor in early 2020, she stated that she remained committed to "co-operative and mutual ownership", as was supported under Corbyn's leadership of the party,[45] and opposed the introduction of auniversal basic income.[48]
Ontransgender rights, Dodds has affirmed Labour's commitment to "trans people and women" but also affirmed the requirement forgender dysphoria for legal changes in gender, in addition to claiming the necessity of "places where it is reasonable for biological women only to have access."[51] This has prompted criticism fromPinkNews as "sitting on the fence" andSpiked magazine for sacrificing "sex-based rights at the altar of gender ideology".[52][53]
On theGaza war, in 2023 Dodds abstained on a motion calling for all parties to agree to a ceasefire.[54] At protests on 23 February 2024, a fundraising event for Dodds was gate-crashed by both Palestinian activists and members ofJust Stop Oil. The event was held in a restaurant inCowley Road, Oxford.[55] Footage of the protest was uploaded to YouTube byMiddle East Eye.[56] In April 2024 theOxford Mail contacted Dodds asking if she would back a ban on arms sales from the UK to Israel. While Dodds told the Mail her sympathies were with the British aid workers killed by Israel during theWorld Central Kitchen aid convoy attack, she did not confirm her support for banning arms sales to Israel.[57]
In December 2024 she visited Malawi for three days as the UK Minister for Development to talk about "economic growth". She was received by the British High CommissionerFiona Ritchie before flying on to Zambia.[58]
She is a member of theFabian Society.[59]
Dodds lives inRose Hill, Oxford and is the partner of Labour Party councillor Ed Turner, the deputy leader ofOxford City Council, and has a son and daughter.[60][61][62]
Dodds was sworn of thePrivy Council on 10 July 2024, entitling her to be styled "The Right Honourable" for life.[63]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)...UK Labour MEP Anneliese Dodds, who sits on the EU's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.
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| European Parliament | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of the European Parliament forSouth East England 2014–2017 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forOxford East 2017–present | Incumbent |
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| Preceded by | Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 2020–2021 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Development 2024–2025 | Vacant |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Women and Equalities 2024–2025 | Vacant |
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| Preceded by | Chair of the Labour Party 2021–2024 | Succeeded by |
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* Served as Minister for (Overseas) Development as aminister of state at theForeign Office | ||
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