Sir Raymond Powell (19 June 1928 – 7 December 2001), known as Ray Powell, was a Welsh politician who served as the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

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 ...

for Ogmore. He continued as constituency MP until his death. Powell, a former shop worker and manager, was sponsored by his trade union,

USDAW The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) is a trade union in the United Kingdom, consisting of around 360,000 members. Usdaw members work in a variety of occupations and industries including: shopworkers, factory and warehouse wo ...

, and entered Parliament at the 1979 election, after becoming chairman of the

Welsh Labour Party Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 192 ...

in 1977; he was an opponent of Welsh devolution. He was an opposition

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

from 1983 to 1995, when he retired to the backbenches. He was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed in 1996. He was opposed to Sunday trading and was active in Parliament to block legislation to allow it. He married Marion Evans in 1950, and their daughter,

Janice Gregory Janice Gregory (née Powell; born 10 January 1955) is a Welsh Labour politician, who represented the constituency of Ogmore from the time the National Assembly for Wales was established in 1999 to the election of 2016. Her main contribution to ...

, was a member of the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...

from 1999 to 2016.

References

1928 births 2001 deaths Knights Bachelor Welsh Labour Party MPs UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Alumni of the London School of Economics Politics of Bridgend County Borough Politicians awarded knighthoods {{Wales-Labour-UK-MP-stub