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Trudy Harrison

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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 MinisterLiz Truss
Rishi Sunak
Preceded bySteve Double
Succeeded byRebecca Pow
Minister of State for Transport
In office
7 July 2022 – 7 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byAndrew Stephenson
Succeeded byLucy Frazer
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport
In office
16 September 2021 – 7 July 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byRachel Maclean
Succeeded byKarl McCartney
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
In office
16 December 2019 – 16 September 2021
Serving withAlex Burghart
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byJames Heappey
Succeeded bySarah Dines
Andrew Griffith
Member of Parliament
forCopeland
In office
23 February 2017 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byJamie Reed
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born(1976-04-19)19 April 1976(age 48)
Seascale,Cumbria,England
Political partyConservative(since 2016)
Other political
affiliations		Independent(2004 to 2007)
Children4
Residence(s)Bootle,Cumbria, England
London,England
Alma materUniversity of Salford

Trudy Lynne Harrison(born 19 April 1976) is a BritishConservative Partypolitician who served as theMember of Parliament(MP) forCopelandfrom theFebruary 2017 by-electionto 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 electionand held her seat in2019.

In December 2019, Harrison was appointedParliamentary Private SecretarytoPrime MinisterBoris Johnson.In September 2021, she was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of Stateat 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 Trussin September 2022.[1][2]She was reappointed byRishi Sunak.[3][4]

Early life

[edit]

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]

Political career

[edit]

Harrison served as anindependentparish councillorinBootle, Cumbriafrom 2004 to 2007.[9]Following the resignation ofJamie Reed,the incumbentLabour PartyMP for Copeland, Harrison was selected by theConservative Partyto contest the subsequent by-election- having only joined the party one year earlier.[10]Theby-electionwas fought by both the Conservatives and Labour over a number of local issues. Harrison campaigned on a stronglypro-nuclear stancein contrast toJeremy Corbyn,the leader of the Labour Party. She promised to safeguard thousands of jobs in the constituency by supporting theexisting Sellafield siteand the possible futureMoorside Nuclear Power Station.[11]She also campaigned on a pro-Brexitline 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 manycommentatorsto be historic and a blow toJeremy Corbyn'sleadership 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-electionand 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]

Official portrait, 2017

Harrison made hermaiden speechon 25 April 2017, shortly before theGeneral Election,at which she was re-elected. It was well received byThe Timesnewspaper.[14]In her first year in office she was subject to some criticism locally for not holdingConstituency Surgeriesand 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 Motionthat seeks to introduce a ban on wild animals incircuses.[16]This was introduced to theCommonsas 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 Secretaryto theMinistry of Defenceministerial team.[18]Harrison served on the Education Committee[19]and was later thePrivate Parliamentary Secretaryto 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 Govein 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 Secretaryto 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 Stateat theDepartment for Transport,during the secondcabinet reshuffleof thesecond Johnson ministry.[27]

Harrison was appointed aMinister of State for Transporton 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]

Personal life

[edit]

Harrison lives inBootle, CumbriaandLondonwith her husband Keith, who works as awelderfor Shepley Engineers Ltd in the local area, and her four daughters.[31][32]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment (September to October 2022)

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Ministerial Appointments: September 2022".GOV.UK.Retrieved9 September2022.
  2. ^"Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Environment) – GOV.UK".gov.uk.Retrieved13 October2022.
  3. ^"Ministerial Appointments commencing: 25 October 2022".GOV.UK.Retrieved28 October2022.
  4. ^"Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Natural Environment and Land Use) – GOV.UK".gov.uk.Retrieved19 November2022.
  5. ^ab"Harrison, Trudy Lynne".Who's Who.Vol. 2018 (February 2018 online ed.). A & C Black.Retrieved13 February2018.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  6. ^ab"Trudy Harrison Profile".Linkedin.Retrieved23 May2018.
  7. ^ab"About Trudy".Personal website.Retrieved23 May2018.
  8. ^"First Phase Housing Development".Project website. 26 May 2017.Retrieved23 May2018.
  9. ^"Tory candidate for Copeland MP election says Brexit must be respected".News and Star.Cumbria.Archivedfrom the original on 24 February 2017.Retrieved24 February2017.
  10. ^abPress Association(26 January 2017)."Tories and Labour pick candidates for Copeland and Stoke byelections".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 23 February 2017.Retrieved25 February2017.
  11. ^Maguire, Patrick (25 February 2017)."Copeland by-election: Brexit and other issues that could swing the vote".New Statesman.Archivedfrom the original on 26 February 2017.Retrieved25 February2017.
  12. ^Stewart, Heather; Asthana, Anushka; Mason, Rowena; Carrell, Severin (24 February 2017)."Corbyn says he is not to blame for Copeland loss and will not resign".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 24 February 2017.Retrieved25 February2017.
  13. ^"Tories in historic by-election Copeland win as Labour holds Stoke".BBC News.24 February 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 25 February 2017.Retrieved25 February2017.
  14. ^Kidd, Patrick (25 April 2017)."Maiden speech swanlike in its grace and beauty".The Times.Retrieved25 April2017.
  15. ^"MP Trudy Harrison snubs public surgeries" following Jo Cox murder "".News and Star.13 September 2017.Retrieved23 May2018.
  16. ^Trudy Harrison (5 March 2018)."Trudy Harrison: It's time to stop the use of wild animals in travelling circuses".Politics Home.Retrieved23 May2018.
  17. ^"Copeland MP Trudy Harrison's bid to ban wild animals in circuses takes a step forward".News and Star.8 May 2019.Retrieved22 July2019.
  18. ^"List of Parliamentary Private Secretaries (PPS): September 2018".gov.uk.Retrieved22 July2019.
  19. ^"Trudy Harrison MP".gov.uk.Retrieved23 May2018.
  20. ^"List of Parliamentary Private Secretaries (PPS): June 2019".gov.uk.Retrieved22 July2019.
  21. ^Crack, Cumbria (18 October 2019)."Copeland MP speaks out about family courts and praises a Whitehaven centre".Cumbriacrack.com.Retrieved24 October2019.
  22. ^"Trudy Harrison".BBC News.Retrieved6 December2019.
  23. ^"Trudy Harrison to vote for Prime Minister's Brexit deal".Whitehaven News.18 October 2019.Retrieved6 December2019.
  24. ^"UK's first deep coal mine in decades given approval in 'kick in teeth in fight to tackle climate change'".The Independent.3 November 2019.Retrieved25 March2021.
  25. ^Sansome, Jessica (14 November 2019)."All the Cumbria General Election 2019 candidates".men.Retrieved6 December2019.
  26. ^Thompson, Helen (17 December 2019)."Copeland MP Trudy Harrison is Boris' 'right-hand woman'".News and Star.Retrieved20 December2019.
  27. ^"Ministerial appointments: September 2021".16 September 2021.
  28. ^Jenkinson, Lucy (7 July 2022)."Trudy Harrison announced as transport minister as Boris Johnson appoints new cabinet members".News and Star.Retrieved1 August2022.
  29. ^"Trudy Harrison MP".GOV.UK.Retrieved2 July2023.
  30. ^"Conservative MP Trudy Harrison will not stand at general election".BBC News.24 July 2023.Retrieved24 July2023.
  31. ^Palmer, Ewan (24 February 2017)."Who is Trudy Harrison? New Tory MP for Copeland following historic by-election win".International Business Times.Archivedfrom the original on 24 February 2017.Retrieved25 February2017.
  32. ^"IPSA record".IPSA.Retrieved23 May2018.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
forCopeland
2017–2024 		Constituency abolished
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