Colleen Fletcher: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|British politician}}

| name = Colleen Fletcher

|term_start term_end = 730 May 20152024

|term_end predecessor = [[Bob Ainsworth]]

|successor birth_name = Colleen Margaret Dalton

|majority birth_date = 7,692{{birth (17.3%)date and age|1954|11|23|df=y}}

|birth_place caption = [[Coventry]]Official portrait, England2017

'''Colleen Margaret Fletcher''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} (''née'' '''Dalton'''; born 23 November 1954) is a British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician. Shewho was first electedserved as the [[Member of Parliament (UKUnited Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Coventry North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Coventry North East]] in thefrom 2015 generalto election2024. PriorA tomember herof parliamentarythe career[[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], she wasserved as a localMember councillorof [[Coventry City Council]] prior to her election to Parliament.

Colleen Margaret Dalton was born on 23 November 1954 in [[Coventry]], England to William Charles and Dot Dalton.<ref>{{cite webbook|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-283917|publisher=A & C Black|accessdate=4 November 2019|title=Fletcher, Colleen Margaret|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U283917|isbn=978-0-19-954088-4}}</ref> Her mother was a Labour councillor on the [[Coventry City Council]]. She grew up in Coventry and attended Richard Lee Primary School, [[Lyng Hall School]], and the further education college [[Henley College Coventry|Henley College]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Reid|first1=Les|title=Colleen Fletcher selected as Labour candidate for Coventry North East|url=http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/colleen-fletcher-selected-labour-candidate-6406424|work=Coventry Telegraph|accessdate=3 January 2017|date=14 December 2013}}</ref>

SheFletcher represented Wyken ward on the Coventry City Council from 1992 to 2000 and between 2002 and 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/four-make-shortlist-fight-coventry-6315779|work=Coventry Telegraph|date=18 November 2013|accessdate=4 November 2019|last=Reid|first=Les|title=Four make shortlist to fight Coventry North-East for Labour}}</ref> In 2011, Fletcher was elected as a Labour Party councillor for the Upper Stoke ward on the same council.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/8/elections_and_voting/936/coventry_city_council_local_election_results_-_may_5_2011/14|title=Upper Stoke Ward - Labour hold|publisher=Coventry City Council|accessdate=4 November 2019}}</ref>

In December 2013, she was selected as the Labour candidate for [[Coventry North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Coventry North East]]. The seat had been represented by a Labour MP since its formation in 1974.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/coventrynortheast/|title=Coventry North East|publisher=UK Polling Report|accessdate=4 November 2019|archive-date=5 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305023003/http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/coventrynortheast/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Fletcher was elected as MP with a majority of 11,775 (29,.1%). She supported [[Owen Smith]] in the [[2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election|2016 Labour leadership election]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://labourlist.org/2016/07/which-mps-and-meps-have-nominated-owen-smith/|title=Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith|date=2016-07-21|website=LabourList|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-07-15}}</ref> and was re-elected inat the [[2017 United Kingdom general election|2017 general election]].<ref>{{cite webnews |title=Coventry North East |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000649|title=Coventry North East|accessdate=4 November 2019 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref>

Fletcher supported the United Kingdom (UK) remaining within the [[European Union]] (EU) in the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|2016 UK EU membership referendum]]. In the indicative votes on 27in March 2019, she voted for a referendum on a [[Brexit]] withdrawal agreement, for the [[Norway -plus model]], and for a customs union with the EU.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://ig.ft.com/brexit-exit-deal-vote/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902092554/https://ig.ft.com/brexit-exit-deal-vote/|archivedate=2 September 2019|date=29 March 2019|title=How MPs voted on May's withdrawal deal defeat|work=Financial Times}}</ref>

SheFletcher was married to Ian Richard Fletcher infrom 1972 until his death in 2018; the couple havehad two sons.<ref name=Gilbert>{{cite web|url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coventrys-first-female-mp-35-9382353|work=Coventry Telegraph|date=3 June 2015|accessdate=4 November 2019|title=Coventry's first female MP in 35 years speaks of juggling her new career with supporting her husband through his cancer battle|last=Gilbert|first=Simon}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coventry-mps-heartbreak-death-husband-15061530.amp | title=Coventry MP's heartbreak at death of husband | date=22 August 2018 }}</ref>

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br />for [[Coventry North East (UK Parliament constituency)|Coventry North East]]|years=[[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015]]–present–[[2024 United Kingdom general election|2024]]}}

[[Category:UK MPs 2019–2019–2024]]