Theresa Griffin (born 11 December 1962) is a British politician who served as a Labour Party

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

from 2014 to 2020. In the European Parliament, Griffin was aligned with the

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...

(S&D).

Early life

Theresa Griffin was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, Warwickshire, the fourth child of Irish immigrant parents. Her father was a machinist in the British Leyland car factory and her mother was a teaching assistant. Griffin attended Bishop Ullathorne Comprehensive school and achieved a first class B.A. and an M.A. from

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

Political career

Griffin has been a member of the Labour Party since 1988. She was a member of

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 ...

's North West Political Committee and represented North West Constituency Labour Partys on the

National Policy Forum The National Policy Forum (NPF) of the British Labour Party is part of the policy-making system of the Party, set up by Leader Tony Blair as part of the Partnership in Power process. A Provisional National Policy Forum had been established by Bl ...

. Griffin has also served as a Regional Organiser for the public services union,

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 ...

. She was Director of Communications and Research at North West Arts. She was a local government

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 ...

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

in the 1990s. As a Liverpool City Councillor, she was the lead member for Economic Development and Europe.

European Parliament

Theresa Griffin, 2016 Labour Party Conference

Theresa Griffin previously stood in the

1999 European Parliament election The 1999 European Parliament election was a European election for all 626 members of the European Parliament held across the 15 European Union member states on 10, 11 and 13 June 1999. The voter turn-out was generally low, except in Belgium and ...

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...

and

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

as a Labour candidate for the

region. In 2009 she lost out to the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

Nick Griffin Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British politician and white supremacist who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014. He served as chairman and then president of the far-righ ...

(no relation). She stood in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

, again as a Labour Party candidate for the North West England region, and was elected as the first candidate on the winning Labour Party list. 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

2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election The 2016 Labour Party leadership election was called when a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party arose following criticism of his approach to the Remain campaign in the referendum on membership of the European Union and q ...

. Theresa Griffin is the winner of the Energy Award, MEP Awards 2017. She was re-elected at the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

, serving until Britain formally exited the EU on 31st January 2020.

Work in the European Parliament

Griffin supported the Cammell Laird strikers petition to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

in 2014, believing the strikers to be the victims of a miscarriage of justice. She supported the "Fair Pay Fortnight" in 2015, which campaigned for higher wages for workers. In 2014 Griffin called on the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

to correctly allocate EU funding to the North West region. She supported

Carbon Capture and Storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) or carbon capture and sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it enters the atmosphere, transporting it, and storing it (carbon sequestration) for centuries or millennia. Usually th ...

(CCS) technology as part of

climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing Greenhouse gas emissions, emissions of greenhouse gases or Carbon sink, removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caus ...

. Griffin advocated a Market Stability Reserve (MSR) for the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). In January 2015 she led a progressive coalition to vote in rejecting proposals that she said would weaken the ETS. Griffin said that the final report would have been "highly regressive and would have had an extremely negative impact on the ETS without benefiting industry in the long run." Griffin has written several articles on energy policy, calling for EU-wide coordination of national energy policies. In March 2015, she contributed to the tenth report of the UK Parliament's Energy and Climate Change Committee, outlining future UK energy and climate change policy requirements, with particular focus on

fuel poverty A household is said to be in fuel poverty when its members cannot afford to keep adequately warm at a reasonable cost, given their income. The term is mainly used in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, although discussions on fuel poverty are increas ...

. In 2015 Griffin called for more EU funding to global health research to aid the eradication of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

and

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. Griffin was a full member and Labour Party Spokesperson for the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee, a substitute member on the Transport and Tourism (TRAN) Committee and was assigned to the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China. In October 2014, she was appointed the S&D

Shadow Rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

for an Opinion on the ITRE Committee about

greenhouse gas emission Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...

trading. She was also a member of the EU Intergroups (cross-party working groups) on Disability Rights, the Digital Agenda for Europe, Children's Rights and Well-being, LGBTI, SMEs, Tourism, Trade Union and Urban.

References

External links

Profile at European Parliament website

Profile
at

European Parliamentary Labour Party The European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP) was the parliamentary party of the British Labour Party in the European Parliament. The EPLP was part of the pan-European Group of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), (with MEPs from sister parties such as ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Theresa 1962 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 2014–2019 MEPs for England 2019–2020 21st-century women MEPs for England Politicians from Coventry Alumni of Lancaster University Alumni of Cartmel College, Lancaster