Natascha Engel (born 9 April 1967)^[1] is a British former politician. She served asLabour PartyMember of Parliament (MP) forNorth East Derbyshire from2005 until her defeat at the2017 general election.^[2]

Natascha Engel
Engel in 2012
Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Second Deputy Chair of Ways and Means
In office 3 June 2015 – 8 June 2017
Speaker	John Bercow
Preceded by	Dawn Primarolo
Succeeded by	Rosie Winterton
Chair of theBackbench Business Committee
In office 15 June 2010 – 3 June 2015
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Ian Mearns
Member of Parliament forNorth East Derbyshire
In office 5 May 2005 – 3 May 2017
Preceded by	Harry Barnes
Succeeded by	Lee Rowley
Personal details
Born	(1967-04-09)9 April 1967 (age 58) Berlin,Germany
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse	David Salisbury-Jones ​ ​ (div. 2012)​
Children	3 sons
Residence	United Kingdom
Alma mater	King's College London, University of Westminster
Profession	Translator; trade union organiser

During her final two years in Parliament, Engel was DeputySpeaker (Second Deputy Chair of Ways and Means). She established and was the inaugural chair of theBackbench Business Committee (2010–2015) for which she was awarded Parliamentarian of the Year in 2013 by thePolitical Studies Association^[3] and the Spectator's Backbencher of the Year in 2015.^[4]

Engel is now CEO of cross-party policy and research institute, Palace Yard.

Engel was born inBerlin,Germany,^[5] to a German father and an English mother. After her parents' divorce she moved with her mother toKent and was educated atKent College andThe King's School, Canterbury.^[6]

She later trained as alinguist in German and Portuguese atKing's College London and at theUniversity of Westminster where she obtained aMaster's degree in Technical and Specialised Translation (German, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese).^[1][7]

While living inMadrid,Spain, Engel worked as a volunteer for two years in the local office ofAmnesty International while earning a living as an English and German teacher. After returning to Britain to work as aTeletext subtitler, Engel learnedBritish Sign Language and volunteered as a communication support worker. She was among the first to join the Organising Academy of theTrade Union Congress, serving with theGraphical, Paper and Media Union. In 2001 she co-ordinated thepolitical fund ballots to help trade unions to maintain their political funds.

Engel joined the Labour Party staff as aTrade Union Liaison Officer in 1997 organising marginal seats campaigning and co-ordinating trade union policy with the Labour Party. In 2001 she became programme director at the think tank, theSmith Institute.

After her election in 2005, Engel was appointed to theWork and Pensions Select Committee.

She served asParliamentary Private Secretary toPeter Hain when he was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. She performed the same role forLiam Byrne in 2008 when he was at the Cabinet Office, and then forJohn Denham when he wasSecretary of State for Communities and Local Government in 2009.

In July 2009, she was elected to the Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons,^[8] chaired byTony Wright MP.

On 15 June 2010, the House of Commons voted to create aBackbench Business Committee, and one week later, Engel defeated SirAlan Haselhurst 202 to 173 in a secret ballot of MPs to become its first chair.^[9] On 6 July 2011 she was named "Backbencher of the Year" for her work with the committee.^[10]

Engel's role was to allocate roughly one day a week parliamentary debating time between competing backbenchers by a process described byQuentin Letts as akin toDragons' Den.^[11] She expressed pride in the committee, which is "a powerful check on the executive".^[11] Debates are allowed on any topic and, unless they are against party policy, thewhips don't interfere.^[11] The most contentious debate was on the EU referendum^[11] held on 24 October 2011.^[12] Engel was re-elected, unopposed, to the chair of the committee May 2012.^[13]

After the2015 General Election, Engel was elected unopposed to be Deputy Speaker (Second Chairman of Ways and Means) underJohn Bercow's speakership. Alongside her fellow Deputies, Rt HonSir Lindsay Hoyle and DameEleanor Laing, Engel never said how she voted in the 2016 EU referendum knowing that she would later have to chair debates on the subject.

Engel was on the Board of Trustees of theUK Youth Parliament and has worked to encourage young people to participate in democracy. Engel became chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs in 2008.^[14][15] At the ePolitix Charity Champion awards in November 2007, Engel was named "Children and Youth Champion" for her work.^[16][17] At the 2007–08 annual general meeting of theBritish Youth Council, she was chosen as an Honorary President of the council.^[18]

TheLegg Report^[19] showed that 343 MPs had been asked to repay money, including several from Derbyshire.^[20] Engel repaid £1,934 of which she said £1,339 was a mortgage claim the Fees office paid twice which she repaid immediately whilst £595 was a refund of a house rental deposit.^[20]

In the2015 general election, Engel's majority of 1,883 was the 17th-smallest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage.^[21] She had been expected to lose but she retained her seat.^[22]

At the 2017 general election, Engel lost to ConservativeLee Rowley by 2,861 despite increasing her share of the vote and total number votes on the previous election.^[22]

On 5 October 2018 the Conservative government announced Engel as the new Commissioner for Shale Gas.^[23] According to theDepartment for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy the role was to be "a direct communication link between local communities, the shale gas industry and the industry regulators."^[24]

From 2019 to 2022, Engel was partner at policy and opinion research agency,Public First where she established the energy and infrastructure practice.^[25]

From September 2022, Engel co-founded Palace Yard with former Public First associate, Tom Waterhouse, where she is now CEO. Palace Yard is a cross-party policy and research institute which specialises in making complex policy accessible to policy-makers.^[26]

In 2012, she and herveterinary surgeon husband divorced; they have three sons.^[11]

• "Natascha Engel". Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved10 April 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• Profile atParliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament atHansard
• Voting record atPublic Whip
• Record in Parliament atTheyWorkForYou