Yvonne Helen Fovargue (born 29 November 1956) is a British Labour Party politician serving as

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

Makerfield Makerfield is an area in North West England. It is now split between the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, and the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside, both within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire. Pla ...

since

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Early life and career

Fovargue attended

Sale Grammar School Sale Grammar School is a grammar school located in Sale to the south of Manchester, England. The school became an Academy Trust Grammar School in 2011. Admission to the school is through its own entrance examination. Trafford LA operates a full ...

and obtained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. In the 1980s, she worked as a housing officer on the Moss Side estate, before becoming the Chief Executive of St Helens

Citizens Advice Bureau Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this nation ...

, a role she held for over 20 years. She also served as a local councillor in Warrington from 2004 until her election as an MP in 2010.

Parliamentary career

Fovargue was elected with a majority of 12,490 at the 2010 general election. She was appointed as an Opposition Whip in 2011 and served as Shadow Transport Minister and Shadow Defence Minister. She was then appointed as a Shadow Education Minister with responsibility for Further Education and Skills in October 2014 following the resignation of

Rushanara Ali Rushanara Ali ( bn, রুশনারা আলী; born 14 March 1975) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bethnal Green and Bow since 2010. She served as a Shadow Minister for International D ...

. She resigned from this role in March 2019 after voting against the Labour whip in a vote on a second Brexit referendum. She 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 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 socialist ...

in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election. Yvonne Fovargue is a member of the

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...

trade union and the

Co-operative Party The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, supporting co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operative Party was founded by co-operative societies to campaign politically for the fair ...

. Fovargue supported neighboring MP

Lisa Nandy Lisa Eva Nandy (born 9 August 1979) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Wigan since 2010. N ...

in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

Personal life

Fovargue is married with one adult daughter. She is also a member of Mensa and an avid reader of crime fiction.

References

External links

Official websiteTwitter
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fovargue, Yvonne 1956 births Living people Alumni of the University of Leeds Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2019–present People educated at Sale Grammar School Mensans Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies People from Sale, Greater Manchester 21st-century British women politicians UK MPs 2017–2019 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Makerfield 21st-century English women 21st-century English people