Mary Kelly Foy (; born 27 February 1968) is a British Labour Party politician serving 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 the City of Durham since the 2019 general election. She is a member of the

Socialist Campaign Group The Socialist Campaign Group, officially the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs and also known as the Campaign Group, is a left-wing, democratic socialist grouping of the Labour Party's Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the ...

parliamentary

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

Early life and education

Foy was born in

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, and grew up on a

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

. She is the second of five children and her grandparents were

Irish immigrants The Irish diaspora ( ga, Diaspóra na nGael) refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner and Meeder, The ...

. Her father is a former shipyard worker who lost his job in the 1980s under

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

's premiership. Foy has a degree in

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

s, which she gained as a

mature student An adult learner or, more commonly, a mature student, is a person who is older and is involved in forms of learning. Adult learners fall in a specific criterion of being experienced, and do not always have a high school diploma. Many of the adult ...

Career

Foy is a member of both

UNISON In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

and

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (after ...

. She was a Community Development Worker in Durham from 2006 to 2013, and she also worked as a

parliamentary assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the U ...

to former

MP Stephen Hepburn. She was elected as a local

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

to represent the Lamesley ward (named after the area of the same name on Gateshead Council Metropolitan Borough Council in 2006. She later became the cabinet member for health and wellbeing on the council in 2009, holding the post until she stood down from the council in 2019. She was local party chair for

Blaydon Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the postal town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blay ...

before moving to the City of Durham, and a regional representative of Labour's National Policy Forum. A socialist and on the left of the party, Foy's bid was backed by several unions. She stood down from Gateshead Council when elected as an MP for City of Durham in 2019, and joined the

parliamentary group.

Parliamentary career

On 15 October 2020, Foy resigned as

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to Andy McDonald to vote against the proposed

Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 (c. 4) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act makes provision for the use of undercover law enforcement agents and covert sources and the committing of crime ...

, disagreeing with the Labour whip to abstain. In November 2020, Foy was involved in the saving of a local school, St Thomas More Primary School, Belmont. Foy had met with representatives of the diocese and the governing body, Durham County Council officers and elected officials, parents and the local community to listen to concerns and to help find a way to resolve the situation. Foy was part of the Committee which scrutinised the Health and Care Bill in Parliament. As part of this committee, Foy tabled several amendments relating to smoking health, including banning a loophole which enables vapes to be handed out for free to underage people and raising the age of sale of cigarettes to 21.

References

External links

* Living people 1968 births English people of Irish descent English socialists Trade unionists from Tyne and Wear Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Jarrow Politicians from Tyne and Wear People from Durham, England UK MPs 2019–present Women trade unionists Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for City of Durham British people of Irish descent 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English people {{UK-MP-2019-stub