Mary Kelly Foy

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Mary Kelly Foy

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MP}}

| image = Official portrait of Mary Kelly Foy MP crop 2.jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 2019

| office =

| primeminister =

| predecessor =

| successor =

| term_start =

| term_end =

| office1 =

| primeminister1 =

| predecessor1 =

| successor1 =

| term_start1 =

| term_end1 =

| office2 = Member of Parliament
for the City of Durham

| parliament2 =

| predecessor2 = Roberta Blackman-Woods

| successor2 =

| termstart2 = 12 December 2019

| term_end2 =

| majority2 = 11,757 (28.9%)

| birth_name = Mary Kelly McStea

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1968|02|27}}

| birth_place = Jarrow, County Durham, England

| party = Labour

| otherparty = Socialist Campaign Group

| website = {{URL|maryfoy.org.uk}}

}}

Mary Kelly Foy ({{nee|McStea}}; born 27 February 1968){{Cite book|last=Brunskill|first=Ian|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1129682574|title=The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election|date=19 March 2020|isbn=978-0-00-839258-1|pages=181|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers Limited |oclc=1129682574}} is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of Durham since the 2019 general election.{{Cite news|url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/gateshead-councillor-mary-foy-selected-17161586|title=Who is Mary Foy? Durham City's new Labour MP|date=13 December 2019|work=Chronicle Live|accessdate=13 December 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000641|title=Durham, City of parliamentary constituency|work=BBC.com|accessdate=13 December 2019}} She is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus.

Early life and education

Foy was born in Jarrow, County Durham, and grew up on a council estate. She is the second of five children and her grandparents were Irish immigrants.{{cite news |work=Labour List |url=https://labourlist.org/2019/10/mary-foy-selected-as-labours-candidate-for-city-of-durham/ |title=Mary Foy selected as Labour's candidate for City of Durham |date=26 October 2019 |accessdate=18 December 2019}} Her father is a former shipyard worker who lost his job in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Foy has a degree in social sciences, which she gained as a mature student.{{cite journal|url=https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/conservative-party/house/house-magazine/108577/class-2019-meet-new-mps|title=Class of 2019: Meet the new MPs|journal=Politics Home: The House|first=Daniel|last=Bond|date=16 December 2019|accessdate=24 December 2019}}

Career

Foy is a member of both UNISON and Unite the Union. She was a Community Development Worker in Durham from 2006 to 2013, and she also worked as a parliamentary assistant to former Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn.

She was elected as a local Councillor to represent the Lamesley ward (named after the area of the same name on Gateshead Council Metropolitan Borough Council in 2006. She later became the cabinet member for health and wellbeing on the council in 2009, holding the post until she stood down from the council in 2019.{{cite journal|url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/17996246.labour-confirms-mary-foy-will-stand-next-durham-city-mp/|title=Labour confirms Mary Foy will stand as next Durham City MP|journal=The Northern Echo|first=Catherine|last=Pristley|date=16 December 2019|accessdate=8 January 2020}} She was local party chair for Blaydon before moving to the City of Durham, and a regional representative of Labour's National Policy Forum.

A socialist and on the left of the party, Foy's bid was backed by several unions. She stood down from Gateshead Council when elected as an MP for City of Durham in 2019, and joined the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary group.

Parliamentary career

On 15 October 2020, Foy resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andy McDonald to vote against the proposed Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill, disagreeing with the Labour whip to abstain.{{cite tweet|user=maryfoy|last=Foy, Mary|title=Today I voted against the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill and resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andy McDonald MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights. Please read my statement below.|number=1316789579601661952}}

In November 2020, Foy was involved in the saving of a local school, St Thomas More Primary School, Belmont. Foy had met with representatives of the diocese and the governing body, Durham County Council officers and elected officials, parents and the local community to listen to concerns and to help find a way to resolve the situation.{{cite web |title=Parents celebrate after 'adored' Catholic school is saved from threat of closure |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/18861168.durhams-st-thomas-rcva-primary-school-saved-threat-closure/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=The Northern Echo |date=11 November 2020 }}

Foy was part of the Committee which scrutinised the Health and Care Bill in Parliament. As part of this committee, Foy tabled several amendments relating to smoking health, including banning a loophole which enables vapes to be handed out for free to underage people and raising the age of sale of cigarettes to 21.{{cite news |last=Wearmouth |first=Rachel |date=4 August 2021 |title=Raising legal age for buying tobacco to 21 being looked at by health officials |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/flavoured-e-cigarettes-could-banned-24685006 |access-date=8 August 2022 |work=Daily Mirror }}{{better source needed|reason=tabloid|date=October 2022}}

Foy held her seat in the 2024 general election, with 47.1% of the vote and a majority of 11,757 over the second-placed Reform UK candidate. There were six candidates, and a turnout of 58%.{{cite news |title=City of Durham - General election results 2024 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001173 |access-date=7 July 2024 |work=BBC News}}