Lilian Greenwood

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Lilian Greenwood

| honorific-suffix = MP

| image = Official portrait of Lilian Greenwood MP crop 2, 2024.jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 2024

| office = Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Future of Roads

| term_start = 5 July 2024

| predecessor = Guy Opperman

| office1 = Chair of the Finance Committee

| term_start1 = 29 January 2020

| term_end1 = 25 May 2021

| predecessor1 = Chris Bryant

| successor1 = Nick Brown

| office2 = Chair of the Transport Committee

| term_start2 = 13 July 2017

| term_end2 = 29 January 2020

| predecessor2 = Louise Ellman

| successor2 = Huw Merriman

| office3 = Member of Parliament
for Nottingham South

| term_start3 = 6 May 2010

| predecessor3 = Alan Simpson

| majority3 = 10,294 (31.3%)

{{collapsed infobox section begin

| last = yes

| Shadow portfolios

| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| embed = yes

| office = Shadow Cabinet

| subterm = 2015–2016

| suboffice = Transport

| office1 = Shadow Frontbench

| subterm1 = 2023–2024

| suboffice1 = Arts, Heritage and Civil Society

| subterm2 = 2021–2023

| suboffice2 = Deputy Chief Whip

| subterm3 = 2011–2015

| suboffice3 = Rail

| subterm4 = 2010–2011

| suboffice4 = Assistant Whip

{{collapsed infobox section end}}}}

| birth_name = Lilian Rachel Greenwood

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1966|3|26|df=y}}

| birth_place = Bolton, Lancashire, England

| children = 3

| party = Labour

| alma_mater = St Catharine's College, Cambridge (BA)

| website = {{URL|www.liliangreenwood.co.uk}}

| primeminister = Keir Starmer

}}

Lilian Rachel Greenwood (born 26 March 1966){{London Gazette |issue=59418 |date=13 May 2010 |page=8744}}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/72265.stm|title=Your representatives – Lilian Greenwood|work=Democracy Live|publisher=BBC News|access-date=15 September 2015}} is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham South since 2010, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Future of Roads since July 2024.{{Cite web |title=Ministerial Appointments: July 2024 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-appointments-july-2024 |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}

A former union official, she served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet from 2015 until her resignation in 2016, and as a shadow transport minister under opposition leader Ed Miliband from 2011 to 2015. On the back benches, Greenwood chaired the Transport Select Committee from 2017 to 2020, and the Commons Finance Committee from 2020 to 2021. She served as the Opposition Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Commons between 2021 and 2023, and the Shadow Minister for Arts, Heritage and Civil Society from 2023 until 2024.

Early life and career

Greenwood was born on the 26 March 1966 in Bolton, Lancashire.{{Who's Who |year=2024 |title=Greenwood, Lilian Rachel |id= U251218 |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U251218}} She attended Canon Slade School, a local Church of England state secondary school, before attending St. Catharine's College, Cambridge.

Moving to Southwell, Nottinghamshire in 1999,{{cite web|url=http://ukpolitics.telegraph.co.uk/Nottingham+South/Lilian+Greenwood |title=Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary candidates - Telegraph |access-date=10 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111207031422/http://ukpolitics.telegraph.co.uk/Nottingham%2BSouth/Lilian%2BGreenwood |archive-date= 7 December 2011 }} Greenwood worked in the county for Unison, the public sector trade union, for 17 years.{{cite web|url=http://www2.labour.org.uk/ppc/lilian_greenwood/30/ |title=Lilian Greenwood|website=Labour Party|access-date=10 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507092749/http://www2.labour.org.uk/ppc/lilian_greenwood/30 |archive-date=7 May 2010 }}

Parliamentary career

Greenwood was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the 2010 general election after the incumbent Labour MP, Alan Simpson, announced in 2007 that he would not stand for re-election.{{cite news|last = Staff writer|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6374179.stm|title=Blair critic to stand down as MP|publisher=BBC News|access-date=7 May 2010|date=18 February 2007}} She was elected as the MP with 37.3% of the vote, a margin of 4.4% over her closest rival.{{cite news|last = Staff writer |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/results/constituency/d41.stm|title=Election 2010 – Nottingham South|publisher=BBC News| date = 7 May 2010|access-date=7 May 2010}}

Shortly after her election, she joined the Transport Select Committee,{{cite news | last = ThisIsNottingham |title=Lilian Greenwood wins seat on transport committee | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120614033919/http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Lilian-Greenwood-wins-set-transport-committee/story-12228571-detail/story.html | archive-date = 14 June 2012 |url=http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Lilian-Greenwood-wins-seat-transport-committee/article-2378605-detail/article.html |work=Nottingham Post |date=5 July 2010 |access-date=8 July 2010}} and was subsequently appointed as an assistant opposition whip. In late September 2011, she was promoted by Labour leader Ed Miliband to the role of Shadow Minister for Rail, a position she held until her re-election in the 2015 general election.

Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party, on 14 September 2015 she was promoted to the Shadow cabinet as the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.{{cite news | last = Staff writer |url=http://www.itv.com/news/central/2015-09-14/five-midlands-politicians-appointed-to-new-shadow-cabinet/ |title=Five Midlands politicians appointed to new Shadow Cabinet |work=ITV News |date=14 September 2015 |access-date=15 September 2015}}

Greenwood resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in the aftermath of the 2016 EU referendum, along with dozens of her colleagues, in protest against what she saw as Jeremy Corbyn's weak leadership.{{cite news|last1=Syal|first1=Rajeev|last2=Perraudin|first2=Frances|last3=Slawson|first3=Nicola|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/26/labour-shadow-cabinet-resignations-jeremy-corbyn-who-has-gone|title=Shadow cabinet resignations: who has gone and who is staying|work=The Guardian|date=27 June 2016|access-date=14 September 2016}}{{cite news|last=Greenwood|first=Lilian|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/07/lilian-greenwood-mp-jeremy-corbyn-continually-undermined-me-job-i-loved|title=Jeremy Corbyn continually undermined me in the job I loved|work=New Statesman|date=18 July 2016|access-date=18 July 2016}} She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.{{Cite web|url=https://labourlist.org/2016/07/which-mps-and-meps-have-nominated-owen-smith/|title=Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith|date=2016-07-21|website=LabourList|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-07-15}}

As a backbencher, Greenwood has chaired the Transport Select Committee and the Commons Finance Committee, and sat on the Liaison Committee, Education Select Committee and Regulatory Reform Committee.{{cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/lilian-greenwood/4029|title=Lilian Greenwood MP|publisher=GOV.UK |access-date= 19 November 2019}}

She was re-elected at the 2017 and 2019 General Elections, and backed Lisa Nandy in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.{{cite news|last=Nowell|first=Andrew|date=10 January 2020|title=Here are the 23 MPs backing Wigan's Lisa Nandy in the Labour Party leadership contest|work=Wigan Today|url=https://www.wigantoday.net/news/politics/here-are-23-mps-backing-wigans-lisa-nandy-labour-party-leadership-contest-2499554|access-date=8 September 2020}}

Greenwood returned to the opposition front bench in May 2021, when she was appointed by Labour leader Keir Starmer as the Opposition Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Commons for legislation, succeeding Alan Campbell following his promotion to Chief Whip.{{Cite web|last=Rodgers|first=Sienna|title=Reshuffle: Keir Starmer's new Labour frontbench in full|url=https://labourlist.org/2021/05/reshuffle-keir-starmers-new-labour-frontbench-in-full/|access-date=2021-05-15|website=LabourList|date=14 May 2021 |language=en-GB}}

Greenwood is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.{{cite web |title=LFI Parliamentary Supporters |url=https://www.lfi.org.uk/lfi-parliamentary-supporters/ |website=Labour Friends of Israel |date=6 July 2017 |access-date=26 February 2024}}