Kathleen Joan "Kate" Costain (formerly Beecroft) is a Manx politician who is a former Leader of the

Liberal Vannin Party The Liberal Vannin Party (LVP; gv, Partee Libraalagh Vannin) is a political party in the Isle of Man. It was founded in 2006 by Peter Karran, then an Independent MHK for Onchan. Karran had been, until 2004, a member of the Manx Labour Party. T ...

and was a

Member of the House of Keys The House of Keys () is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council. History The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in ...

for

Douglas South Douglas South is a House of Keys constituency in Douglas, Isle of Man Douglas ( gv, Doolish, ) is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,677 (2021). It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, an ...

from 2011 to 2020. She changed her surname from Beecroft to Costain in 2019.

Career

Costain was born on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

and worked as an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

before entering politics. She stood unsuccessfully for the

in Middle in the

2006 Manx general election General elections were held on the Isle of Man on Thursday, 23 November 2006. The voting age was lowered to 16 at this election. As usual, the election was dominated by independents, who took 21 of the 24 seats. Background In the 2001 Manx gener ...

but later became a

Braddan Braddan ( gv, Braddan) is one of the seventeen parishes of the Isle of Man. It is located on the east of the island (part of the traditional ''South Side'' division) in the sheading of Middle. Administratively, a small part of the historic p ...

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

from 2007 to 2011. Beecroft served as Chairman of the Liberal Vannin Party from 2008 to 2009. She stood unsuccessfully again in

Douglas East Douglas East is a House of Keys constituency in Douglas, Isle of Man. It elects 2 MHKs. Since the 2021 local elections the constituency's area has been adopted for Douglas East (ward) which replaced most of Victoria and Derby wards. The ward ...

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in 2010, coming second and only seven votes behind Chris Robertshaw who won. In the

2011 Manx general election General elections were held on the Isle of Man on 29 September 2011 to elect 24 members to the island's lower house, the House of Keys. 60,000 residents were eligible to vote, including 16- and 17-year-olds. Successful candidates were sworn in on ...

Beecroft was elected for the Liberal Vannin Party in

, becoming one of three Liberal Vannin MHKs. In February 2014,

Peter Karran Peter Karran (born 20 May 1960) is a Manx politician, who is a former leader of the Liberal Vannin Party and former Minister of Education and Children. He was a Member of the House of Keys for Middle, and then for Onchan, from 1985 to 2016. ...

, the Leader of the Liberal Vannin Party, renounced his leadership in favour of Beecroft. Karran said that it "was time for a change." She once revealed aspirations to bring more women into the

House of Keys The House of Keys () is the directly elected lower house of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man, the other branch being the Legislative Council. History The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written in ...

and to field a Liberal Vannin candidate in every constituency in the 2016 Manx general election. At the 2016 election Liberal Vannin initially fielded only 4 candidates in the 12 constituencies, with one of those resigning from the party on the day of the election. Beecroft was Minister for Health and Social Care from 2016 until 2018. She was asked by the Chief Minister to resign as minister in January 2018 in controversial circumstances after two political members had resigned from her Department in 2017 and one LibVan MHK had resigned from the party. She resigned as an MHK in July 2020.Tynwald Court Hansard for 21 July 2020

Electoral performance

House of Keys elections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costain, Kate Members of the House of Keys 2011–2016 Members of the House of Keys 2016–2021 Living people Liberal Vannin Party politicians Year of birth missing (living people)