Trudy Harrison | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Natural Environment and Land Use[a] | |
| In office 8 September 2022 – 13 November 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Liz Truss Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Steve Double |
| Succeeded by | Rebecca Pow |
| Minister of State for Transport | |
| In office 7 July 2022 – 7 September 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Andrew Stephenson |
| Succeeded by | Lucy Frazer |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport | |
| In office 16 September 2021 – 7 July 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Rachel Maclean |
| Succeeded by | Karl McCartney |
| Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister | |
| In office 16 December 2019 – 16 September 2021 Serving with Alex Burghart | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | James Heappey |
| Succeeded by | Sarah Dines Andrew Griffith |
| Member of Parliament forCopeland | |
| In office 23 February 2017 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Jamie Reed |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1976-04-19)19 April 1976 (age 48) Seascale,Cumbria, England |
| Political party | Conservative(since 2016) |
| Other political affiliations | Independent(2004 to 2007) |
| Children | 4 |
| Residence(s) | Bootle, Cumbria, England London, England |
| Alma mater | University of Salford |
Trudy Lynne Harrison (born 19 April 1976) is a BritishConservative Party politician who served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forCopeland from theFebruary 2017 by-election to the2024 general election. Her election marked the first time Copeland had elected a Conservative MP since 1931, and the first time the constituency had elected a female MP. Three months after her by-election victory, Harrison was re-elected in the2017 general election and held her seat in2019.
In December 2019, Harrison was appointedParliamentary Private Secretary toPrime MinisterBoris Johnson. In September 2021, she was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of State at theDepartment for Transport; she was promoted to Minister of State in the same department in July 2022.
She was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment by Prime MinisterLiz Truss in September 2022.[1][2] She was reappointed byRishi Sunak.[3][4]
Harrison was born and brought up inSeascale,England. She was educated atWyndham School, Egremont.[5] After leaving school, Harrison worked for five years as a technical clerk atSellafield, before running a childcare business for five years. After taking a four-year career break, two shorter stints of employment followed atCopeland 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 theUniversity 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 toBootle.[6][7] The Wellbank Project included several phases of proposed property development, with the first phase consisting of eighteen newresidential units, which were due to have been built by summer 2018.[8]
Harrison served as anindependentparish councillor inBootle, Cumbria from 2004 to 2007.[9] Following the resignation ofJamie Reed, the incumbentLabour Party MP for Copeland, Harrison was selected by theConservative Party to contest the subsequent by-election- having only joined the party one year earlier.[10] Theby-election was fought by both the Conservatives and Labour over a number of local issues. Harrison campaigned on a stronglypro-nuclear stance in contrast toJeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party. She promised to safeguard thousands of jobs in the constituency by supporting theexisting Sellafield site and the possible futureMoorside Nuclear Power Station.[11] She also campaigned on a pro-Brexit line and said that Labour wanted "to ignore how we voted in thereferendum."[10]
Harrison won the by-election with a majority of 2,147. Her election was seen by manycommentators to be historic and a blow toJeremy 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 the1982 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]
Harrison made hermaiden speech on 25 April 2017, shortly before theGeneral Election, at which she was re-elected. It was well received byThe Times newspaper.[14] In her first year in office she was subject to some criticism locally for not holdingConstituency 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 themurder of Jo Cox.[15]
On 6 March 2018, Harrison introduced aTen Minute Rule Motion that seeks to introduce a ban on wild animals incircuses.[16] This was introduced to theCommons 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 asParliamentary Private Secretary to theMinistry of Defence ministerial team.[18] Harrison served on the Education Committee[19] and was later thePrivate Parliamentary Secretary to theSecretary of State for Education.[20]
Harrison has questioned the current efficacy offamily courts, arguing that they often disadvantage sufferers ofdomestic abuse.[21]
In July 2019, Harrison supportedMichael Gove in the2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[22]
In October 2019, Harrison voted forBoris Johnson'sBrexit deal.[23]
Harrison supports the construction of the UK's first deep coal mine to be built inCopeland.[24] The mine was a topic of contention in West Cumbria, with little to no progress ever made during the Harrison years.
Harrison stood for, and won, re-election in Copeland at the2019 general election.[25] Following this she was madeParliamentary Private Secretary to thePrime Minister.[26]
In December 2019, Harrison was appointedParliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime MinisterBoris Johnson, serving alongsideAlex Burghart.
On 17 September 2021, Harrison was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of State at theDepartment for Transport, during the secondcabinet reshuffle of thesecond Johnson ministry.[27]
Harrison was appointed aMinister of State for Transport on 7 July 2022, serving alongsideWendy Morton.[28]
Harrison was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 7 September 2022.[29]
In July 2023, Harrison announced that she would stand down as an MP at the2024 general election.[30]
Harrison lives inBootle, Cumbria andLondon with her husband Keith, who works as awelder for Shepley Engineers Ltd in the local area, and her four daughters.[31][32]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCopeland 2017–2024 | Constituency abolished |
