Emma Elizabeth Reynolds (born 2 November 1977) is a British Labour politician who served 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 ofte ...

(MP) for

Wolverhampton North East Wolverhampton North East is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It is currently represented by ...

from 2010 to 2019, and the

Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government The Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is a position with the UK Opposition's Shadow Cabinet; if the opposition party forms a new government, the designated person is a likely choice to become the new Levelli ...

in 2015.

Early life and career

Reynolds was educated at Codsall High School in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked Counties of England, county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwicks ...

, near

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, followed by Wulfrun Further Education College. She studied at

Wadham College Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorot ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where she read Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Her step father Kevin taught at Concord College, a boarding

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British En ...

set in the grounds of Acton Burnell Castle, near

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Shr ...

. Reynolds set up a

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

business in Brussels to help British companies that wished to influence EU laws. From 2001 to 2004, Reynolds worked in Brussels as a political adviser to

Robin Cook Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 19466 August 2005) was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 wh ...

then President of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom. ...

. She later worked in

Downing Street Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk ...

and the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

as a special advisor to then

Minister for Europe Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

and Government

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

Geoff Hoon Geoffrey William Hoon (born 6 December 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire from 1992 to 2010. He is a former Defence Secretary, Transport Secretary, Leader of ...

. In January 2009, Reynolds joined commercial public affairs consultancy Cogitamus, which gives advice to companies.

Parliamentary career

Reynolds was selected as the Labour candidate for the 2010 general election for

in September 2008. Despite a 9% swing to the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...

and a reduction in majority of more than 6,000, she held the seat for Labour. Reynolds has spoken on many issues in the

including questions on

Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. The programme was ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicia ...

free school meals A school meal or school lunch (also known as hot lunch, a school dinner, or school breakfast) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world ...

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

, cuts to police numbers and Mental Health Services. In the summer of 2010 Reynolds was also elected to the

Foreign Affairs Select Committee The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many select committees of the British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Inquiries The Foreign Affair ...

of the House of Commons. In October 2010, Reynolds was promoted by Labour's

new leader ''The New Leader'' (1924–2010) was an American political and cultural magazine. History ''The New Leader'' began in 1924 under a group of figures associated with the Socialist Party of America, such as Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas. It was p ...

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband ...

, to the opposition frontbench, as a shadow junior Foreign Office Minister under the then

Shadow Foreign Secretary In UK politics, the Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs is a position within the opposition's shadow cabinet that deals mainly with issues surrounding the Foreign Office. If elected, the person serving ...

Yvette Cooper Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Home Secretary since 2021, and previously from 2011 to 2015. She served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2008 to 2009 and Work and Pe ...

. After the resignation of the Shadow Chancellor

Alan Johnson Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2006 to 2007, Secretary of State for Health from 2007 to 2009, Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010, and Shadow Chance ...

and resulting mini-reshuffle of posts, Reynolds continued working in her post under the new Shadow Foreign Secretary,

Douglas Alexander Douglas Garven Alexander (born 26 October 1967) is a Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, previously Paisley South, from 1997 until his defeat in 2015. During this time, he served a ...

. In October 2011, Emma Reynolds was promoted by Labour leader, Ed Miliband, to the position of Shadow Europe Minister. In October 2013, Reynolds was promoted by Ed Miliband to the position of Shadow Housing Minister, replacing

Jack Dromey John Eugene Joseph Dromey (29 September 1948 – 7 January 2022) was a British politician and Trade unions in the United Kingdom, trade unionist who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Erdin ...

. In May 2015, after the 2015 general election, Reynolds was promoted to the position of Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary by acting leader of the Labour Party

Harriet Harman Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham (UK Parliament constituency), Camberwell and Peckham, ...

, following the resignation of Ed Miliband. Reynolds is former

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

of the All-Party Parliamentary China Group and Vice Chair for the

All-Party Parliamentary Group An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

for British Sikhs, as well as

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on

Human Trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

. Reynolds resigned as

following the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

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 ...

as leader of the Labour Party. She later 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 2016 Labour Party leadership election. She was defeated in the 2019 election by the Conservatives'

Jane Stevenson Jane Barbara Stevenson (born 12 February 1959) is a British historian, literary scholar, and author. Since 2017, she is Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall, Oxford. From 2007 to 2017, she was Regius Professor of Humanity at the University o ...

Views on the European Union

In an online article for the

New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...

pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...

Progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension w ...

in 2011, Reynolds asserted that "Britain's membership of 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 ...

is in our national interest". In an October 2012 interview with the ''

Total Politics ''Total Politics'' is a British political magazine described as "a lifestyle magazine for the political community". It was first published in June 2008, and is distributed freely to all MPs, MEPs, peers, political journalists, members of the Sc ...

'' website, Reynolds called for the

eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro ( €) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU polici ...

countries to integrate more closely. She also said she had differing opinions with

Jon Cruddas Jonathan Cruddas (born 7 April 1962) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dagenham and Rainham since 2010, and formerly for Dagenham between 2001 and 2010. A graduate of the University of Warwic ...

, Labour's policy review chief, on whether having a referendum on the EU was a priority. In the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum, Reynolds campaigned for Britain Stronger in Europe.

Post-parliamentary career

Following her departure from parliament in 2019, Reynolds was appointed as Managing Director of Public Affairs, Policy & Research at

TheCityUK TheCityUK is a private-sector membership body and industry advocacy group promoting the financial and related professional services industry of the United Kingdom (UK). TheCityUK is often referred to as the industry's "most powerful" or "most pro ...

, a special interest group lobbying the UK Government on behalf of the financial sector. On 19 November 2022, Reynolds was selected to be the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Wycombe, at the next general election.

Personal life

Reynolds participates in sports such as

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This i ...

and used to play

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ca ...

. She also enjoys

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

and going to the

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking * ...

. Reynolds married solicitor Richard Stevens in April 2016. They had a son on 14 April 2017. They had a second son in May 2019.

References

External links

* * * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Emma 1977 births Living people Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford British consultants British lobbyists British special advisers Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Wolverhampton UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English people