Colleen Margaret Fletcher (''née'' Dalton; born 23 November 1954) is a British
Labour Party politician. She was first elected as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Coventry North East in the 2015 general election. Prior to her parliamentary career, she was a local councillor.
Early life
Colleen Margaret Dalton was born on 23 November 1954 in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
, England to William Charles and Dot Dalton. Her mother was a Labour councillor on
Coventry City Council
Coventry City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Coventry in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974.
The city is divided up into 18 Wards each with three councillors. Coventry ...
. She grew up in Coventry and attended Richard Lee Primary School,
Lyng Hall School, and the further education college
Henley College.
Political career
Fletcher represented Wyken ward on Coventry City Council from 1992 to 2000 and between 2002 and 2004. In 2011, Fletcher was elected as a Labour Party councillor for the Upper Stoke ward on the same council.
In December 2013, she was selected as the Labour candidate for
Coventry North East. The seat had been represented by a Labour MP since its formation in 1974. Fletcher was elected as MP with a majority of 11,775 (29.1%). She was re-elected in the 2017 general election.
She supported
Owen Smith
Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a former Labour Party politician and subsequently a British lobbyist, who has been the UK government relations director for pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb since 2020. Smith was Member of Parliamen ...
in the failed attempt to replace
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
in the
2016 Labour leadership election. Since October 2017, Fletcher has sat on the
Administration Committee
The Administration Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It has a remit "to consider the services provided for and by the House of Commons".
Membership
As of July 2022, the members of t ...
and is an opposition whip.
Fletcher supported the United Kingdom (UK) remaining within the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) in the
2016 UK EU membership referendum. In the indicative votes on 27 March 2019, she voted for a referendum on a
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
withdrawal agreement, for the
Norway-plus model
In British politics, the "Norway-plus model" was a proposal for a post-Brexit settlement, which the British government did not pursue. Proposed in November 2018 as an alternative to the Chequers plan, it would have consisted of membership of the ...
, and for a customs union with the EU.
On 5 September 2022, she announced she would be standing down at the
next general election.
Personal life
She married Ian Richard Fletcher in 1972; the couple have two sons.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Colleen
1954 births
Living people
Coventry City Councillors
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Labour Party (UK) councillors
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of Parliament for Coventry
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present
21st-century British women politicians
21st-century English women
21st-century English people
Women councillors in England