Paula Barker

Paula Barker (born 9 May 1972) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Wavertree since the 2019 general election.[2]

Paula Barker

MP
Barker in 2019
Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree
Assumed office
13 December 2019
Preceded byLuciana Berger
Majority31,310 (72.2%)
Personal details
Born (1972-05-09) 9 May 1972
Liverpool, England[1]
Political partyLabour Party (UK)
Spouse(s)Mike Barker
Children2
Websitevote.labour.org.uk/paula-barker

Before election, Paula Barker was a Unison trade union official as the North West Regional Convenor as well as the leader of her local government branch in Halton, Cheshire.

Early life and education

Paula Barker was born at Sefton General Hospital in Wavertree, Liverpool. Her dad was diagnosed with cancer and died two weeks before her second birthday, leaving her mum to raise her as a single parent. She attended Holly Lodge Girls' High School in West Derby, Liverpool.

Early career

Paula Barker was employed in local government for almost 30 years – ever since she left school. After leaving school she joined Liverpool City Council on a Youth Training Scheme in the Human Resources Department. Soon after, she moved to a permanent position in the Building Maintenance & Repairs Department. On day one of her employment she went and found the union rep and joined NALGO. Within the first year of work she was balloted for industrial action and joined colleagues on the picket line.

She eventually moved from Liverpool City Council for a promotion at neighbouring Knowsley Council to work in Customer Services where she spent around four years. In around 2001 she joined Halton Borough Council where she progressively became more active in her trade union, UNISON. She held a variety of roles in her local branch before becoming Branch Secretary and then for the last 5 years prior to her election to Parliament she was the North West Regional Convenor for UNISON, the most senior lay official for the union. In this role she constantly has championed workers rights for the 200,000 plus members she represented[3][4][5]

For the three years prior to her election victory she was also a member of the North West TUC (Trades Union Council) Executive Committee.

Political career

Paula Barker voted for Jeremy Corbyn in both his leadership campaigns. She was the first major trade union official to publicly back Jeremy Corbyn's original leadership campaign in 2015.[6]

Her candidacy to be Labour candidate for Liverpool Wavertree was backed by all the major trade unions, including Unite and Unison.[7] She was elected in the 2019 general election, winning 31,310 votes. This represented 72.2% of the vote.[8]

She is a member of Labour's Socialist Campaign Group.

Paula Barker made her maiden speech on 4 February 2020 becoming one of the first of the new MPs from the 2019 general election to do so. In it she paid tribute to her predecessor and outlined the rich diversity of the Liverpool Wavertree constituency whilst also pointing out to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government that it is local representatives who know what is best for their constituencies.[9]

Her maiden speech was followed up on 25 February when she spoke in the Social Care debate and called upon the Government to enact meaningful market reform of the landscape of fragmented providers, and to develop an effective workforce strategy so that staff are fairly rewarded and properly valued.[10]

On 12 March, Paula Barker sponsored the Private Members Bill put forward by Mike Amesbury MP (Weaver Vale) on proposed changes to the law regarding school uniforms. Her speech in that debate called on all members of all political parties to come together to make the change in the law to support parents and carers struggling to cope with the increasing costs of school uniforms; an issue affecting the 1 in 3 children living in poverty in Liverpool, Wavertree[11].

She is a member of the Justice Select Committee on behalf of the Labour Party.[12]

gollark: > this is killing me everytime I see it
gollark: You see, I'm trying to decide on a phone to buy to replace my nonfunctional phone, but there are many phones and I am not entirely certain of what I actually want.
gollark: Project CRATERED ATTENUATION is putting some stress on me.
gollark: I may have overdosed on ¹s.
gollark: ¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¡¡¡¡¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹¹

References
  1. "PAULA BARKER". Liverpool Echo.
  2. "Liverpool Wavertree parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC.com. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  3. "A blog from our Regional Convenor, Paula Barker". Unison North West.
  4. "The core ideals of trade unionism endure from one generation to the next". Morning Star. 2 June 2018.
  5. "The Peterloo protesters had liberated their own minds from apathy and fear". Morning Star. 16 August 2019.
  6. Clay-LE, Oliver (7 August 2015). "Unison branch secretary for Halton takes centre stage with Labour contender as Corbynmania lands in North West". Liverpool Echo.
  7. "Class of 2019: Meet the new MPs". PoliticsHome.com. 16 December 2019.
  8. "Liverpool Wavertree Parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  9. "Rating and Valuation - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  10. "Social Care - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  11. https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-03-13/debates/5B43E213-2C7C-44F7-85BD-C275A27F8B14/Education(GuidanceAboutCostsOfSchoolUniforms)Bill?highlight=paula%20barker#contribution-C053E74C-43C9-448D-8ED7-BB09133EE6BA
  12. "Justice Committee - Membership - Committees - UK Parliament". committees.parliament.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Luciana Berger		 Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree
2019–present		 Incumbent
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