Dame Glenis Willmott | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader of the Labour Party in theEuropean Parliament | |
| In office 18 January 2009 – 3 October 2017 | |
| Deputy | Richard Corbett |
| Leader | Gordon Brown Ed Miliband Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Gary Titley |
| Succeeded by | Richard Corbett |
| Member of the European Parliament for theEast Midlands | |
| In office 1 January 2006 – 3 October 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Phillip Whitehead |
| Succeeded by | Rory Palmer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Glenis Scott (1951-03-04)4 March 1951 (age 74) Horden,County Durham, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | Trent Polytechnic |
| Profession | Medical scientist |
Dame Glenis Willmott,DBE (néeScott; born 4 March 1951) is a British retiredLabour Partypolitician who served as leader of theEuropean Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP) andMember of theEuropean Parliament for theEast Midlands.
Willmott was born in the mining village ofHorden,County Durham, but moved toMansfield with her family at the age of 10. She was educated in Mansfield and atTrent Polytechnic where she obtained anHNC inmedical science. She worked as amedical scientist for theNational Health Service atKing's Mill and Mansfield Hospitals from 1969 to 1990.[1]
She was chair ofMansfieldConstituency Labour Party and a member ofNottinghamshire County Council for the Leeming and Forest Town division from1989 to1993.[2] She also worked as anassistant toAlan Meale (Member of Parliament forMansfield) from 1987 to 1990.[1]
In 1990, she became political officer for theGMB trade union's Midland and East Coast region. She served as chair of theEast Midlands Regional Labour Party and was second on the Labour Party list of candidates for the East Midlands region at the2004 elections to the European Parliament.[1] According to thePalestine Solidarity Campaign, as of 2010 Willmott was a member of theLabour Friends of Israel and has served as vice-chair.[3][better source needed]
On 1 January 2006, she replacedPhillip Whitehead as a member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands following his death.[4] Along with other Labour MEPs, she was part of theProgressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament.
In July 2006, she was elected to the position ofChief Whip of the Labour MEPs, a position she held until January 2009, when she was elected as the Leader of theEuropean Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP), replacingGary Titley who had resigned the post.[5][6] She was the longest serving leader of the EPLP, surpassingBarbara Castle and Gary Titley.
In September 2014, she was appointedrapporteur for changes tomedical devices legislation primarily triggered by scandals involvingPIP breast implants and'metal-on-metal' hip replacements.[7] In October 2014, Willmott received the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Belgian Association of Clinical Research Professionals for her work on clinical trials legislation.[8] She also hosted anS&D event at theEspace Léopold focused on improved labelling of alcoholic drinks.[9][10]
Following the 2014 election, Willmott sat (or was a substitute) on the followingCommittees andDelegations:[6]
In May 2014, Willmott launched her East Midlands campaign for the2014 European Parliament election inDerby "promising to help people struggling with the cost of living".[11] She said theConservatives wanted to help energy companies and bankers. "Nearly 340,000 East Midland jobs depended on continued membership but the Tories hadn't said what aspects of EU membership they wanted to renegotiate or when they would do it. An EU referendum would just be a distraction when Britain was trying to improve its economy". She also claimedUKIP's stated objective of "cutting red tape" were really about "cutting people's rights at work".[11] In the East Midlands where five seats were contested, Labour retained Willmott's seat and increased their share of the vote by 8%, narrowly missing out on gaining a second seat in the region.[12]
Although she opposedDavid Cameron's decision to call thereferendum on the UK's membership of the EU, Willmott played a prominent role inLabour In for Britain, Labour's campaign for Britain to remain in the EU. She was critical of Cameron's proposed reforms to the EU, including changes tolegislation on workers' rights, product standards and environmental protections.[13] She argued that the five key arguments for remaining a member of the EU were on job protection and creation, employment rights, protections for consumers, cross-border security and increased influence on the world stage.[14]
Following the UK'svote to leave the EU, Willmott has argued that if the deal reached during theBrexit negotiations leads to extensivederegulation and weakening of social and workers' rights, then Labour should oppose it.[15] In the aftermath of the referendum result, she wrote a letter on behalf of the EPLP toJeremy Corbyn calling for his resignation asLeader of the Labour Party after a party briefing document appeared to promote the work ofKate Hoey andGisela Stuart, two key MPs in the rivalLabour Leave campaign.[16]
Willmott announced in July 2017 that she would stand down in October and was formally replaced as MEP for the East Midlands byLeicester citycouncillorRory Palmer on 3 October.[17][18] She was replaced as Leader of the EPLP by her colleagueRichard Corbett.[19] She was honoured with a 'thank you' dinner on 4 November 2017 which celebrated her career and contribution to the Labour Party andEuropean politics; the dinner was attended by Corbyn and former leaderEd Miliband.[20]
Willmott lives inLeicestershire with her husband Ted.[1] She was appointed aDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the2015 Dissolution Honours on 27 August 2015.[21]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Leader of theEuropean Parliamentary Labour Party 2009–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | European Parliamentary representative on theNational Executive Committee of theLabour Party 2012 – 2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of the Labour Party 2016 – 2017 | Succeeded by Andy Kerr |