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 o ...

(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 in the 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 city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, 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 councillor A co ...

. 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 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 socialis ...

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 union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

(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 from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...

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 E ...

, 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