Debra Shipley
{{Short description|British politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Debra Shipley
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|constituency_MP = Stourbridge
|parliament =
|majority =
|term_start = 2 May 1997
|term_end = 11 April 2005
|predecessor = Constituency established
|successor = Lynda Waltho
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|06|22|df=yes}}
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|nationality = British
|party = Labour
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Debra Ann Shipley (born 22 June 1957) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Stourbridge from 1997 until the 2005 general election, when she stood down for reasons of ill health.{{cite web| url = https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/debra_shipley/stourbridge| title = Debra Shipley, former MP|website=They Work For You| publisher = FaxYourMP Ltd.| access-date = 2005-05-17}} She was succeeded by Lynda Waltho, also from the Labour Party.
Shipley was the first woman MP for Stourbridge, but not the first Labour MP to sit for the town under different boundaries: Wilfred Wellock had been the Labour MP from 1927 to 1931 (for Stourbridge); Arthur Moyle from 1945 to 1950 (Stourbridge); George Wigg from 1950 to 1968 (for Dudley, which was lost to the Tories in a by-election in 1968 following Wigg's ill-health and appointment to the National Horseracing Board), and John Gilbert from 1970 to 1974 (for Dudley, as Labour regained Dudley at the 1970 general election).
Following Shipley's departure from Parliament in 2005, she later left the Labour Party, and in 2019 campaigned for Change UK in Norfolk.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
Parliament
Shipley was selected to stand for election for Labour through an all-women shortlist. As an MP, Shipley's most significant initiative was the Protection of Children Act, which passed with cross-party support, it requires that childcare organizations now check new staff against a newly created registry of child abusers. Shipley was also responsible for the Children's Food Bill, which called for the removal of "unhealthy" food from school vending machines and improvements to school meals.{{cite news
| date = 2005-03-24| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4378767.stm
| title = MP in cancer fight to stand down
| work = BBC News
| access-date = 2006-05-17}} The latter bill attracted the support of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
Shipley served on the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, and was Parliamentary Ambassador to the NSPCC, in which capacity she fronted the "Full Stop" Campaign in Parliament. Shipley generally voted with her party.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Hansard-contribs | ms-debra-shipley | Debra Shipley }}
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{{s-ttl
| title = Member of Parliament for Stourbridge
}}
{{s-aft | after = Lynda Waltho }}
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{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shipley, Debra}}
Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Category:Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Category:20th-century British women politicians
Category:21st-century British women politicians
Category:20th-century English women
Category:20th-century English people
Category:21st-century English women
Category:21st-century English politicians
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