Kerry McCarthy (born 26 March 1965, Luton) is a British Labour Party politician who was elected Member of Parliament for Bristol East in the 2005 general election. She was selected as the Labour candidate for the constituency through a controversial All-Women Shortlist.^[1]

She was formerly a councillor in Luton and for a short period of time volunteered in the Legal Department of the Labour Party. She was also a member of the Labour's National Policy Forum. She was educated at Goldsmiths College, University of London and the University of Liverpool, and is a qualified solicitor.

McCarthy is a vegan, and has given talks on the subject and was a presenter at the Vegan Society's 2005 annual awards. ^[2]

[edit] Parliamentary Career

On being elected to Parliament in 2005, McCarthy was appointed a member of the Treasury Select Committee, and was involved in its inquiries into financial inclusion, globalisation and the role of the International Monetary Fund, and the administration of tax credits. She has also sat on two Finance Bill committees, as well as the UK Borders Bill Committee, the Offender Management Bill Committee and the Mental Health Bill Committee.

In April 2007 McCarthy was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Rosie Winterton, Minister for Health Services, and helped her steer the Mental Health Bill through the Commons. From July 2007 to June 2009 she worked as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Douglas Alexander, the Secretary of State for International Development, before being made a Junior Whip in the reshuffle of that month.

She is also Chair of the South West Group of Labour MPs, secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Somaliland, a member of Labour's National Policy Forum, and lead contact for the End Child Poverty campaign amongst Labour MPs in parliament.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-05057.pdf
2. ^ "BBC - Bristol - Made In Bristol - Vegan vote for Bristol firms". BBC. 2005-10-28. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2005/10/27/vegan_feature.shtml. Retrieved 2009-04-28. 

[edit] External links

• Kerry McCarthy's official web site
• Kerry McCarthy's blog
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Kerry McCarthy MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Kerry McCarthy MP
• SomethingPoliticalSounding - Kerry McCarthy Interview before election^{[dead link]}
• Kerry's McCarthy's Twitter Feed

This article about a current Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This article about a Labour Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e