Peter Dowd

{{For|the Australian professor of mining engineering|Peter Dowd (academic)}}

{{Use British English|date=October 2019}}{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Peter Dowd

| image = Peter Dowd MP - Official Parliamentary Photo.jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 2017

| honorific-suffix = MP

| office = Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury

| term_start = 9 February 2017

| leader = Jeremy Corbyn

| term_end = 6 April 2020

| predecessor = Rebecca Long-Bailey

| successor = Bridget Phillipson

| office1 = Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury

| term_start1 = 6 October 2016

| term_end1 = 9 February 2017

| leader1 = Jeremy Corbyn

| predecessor1 = Rob Marris

| successor1 = Anneliese Dodds

| office2 = Member of Parliament
for Bootle

| term_start2 = 7 May 2015

| term_end2 =

| predecessor2 = Joe Benton

| successor2 =

| majority2 = 21,983 (56.5%)

| birth_name = Peter Christopher Dowd

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|6|20|df=y}}

| birth_place = Bootle, Lancashire, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Labour

| alma_mater = Hugh Baird College
University of Liverpool
Lancaster University

| website = {{URL|https://peterdowd.com/}}

}}

Peter Christopher Dowd{{London Gazette |issue=61961 |date=19 June 2017 |page=11778}} (born 20 June 1957) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bootle since 2015.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000581 |title=Bootle parliamentary constituency - Election 2015 |publisher=BBC News |date=1 January 1970 |access-date=17 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151206063233/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000581 |archive-date=6 December 2015 |url-status=live }} From 2017 to 2020, he served as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Early life and education

Peter Dowd was born on 20 June 1957 in Bootle in a large working-class family with a long history of activism in the Labour Party. His great-uncles, Simon and Peter Mahon, served as Labour MPs. Dowd went to local primary and secondary schools and college, before earning an undergraduate degree from Liverpool University, and then a postgraduate degree from Lancaster University.

Political career

Dowd was a Merseyside County Councillor from 1981 to 1986 for the Hawthorne ward.{{cite web |title=Contact information for Peter Dowd - MPs and Lords |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/4397/contact |publisher=parliament.uk}} He became a Sefton Borough councillor in 1991 when he replaced Joe Benton for the Derby ward.

He was a councillor for Derby from 1991 to 2003, before he moved to St Oswalds ward (covering Netherton and Marion Square). He was also chair of Merseyside Fire Authority in the 1990s. Dowd was elected Sefton Labour group leader after the death of Dave Martin, and was leader until 2015. He was consequently elected Leader of Sefton Council from 2011 to 2015.

Parliamentary career

At the 2015 general election, Dowd was elected to Parliament as MP for Bootle with 74.5% of the vote and a majority of 28,704.{{cite web |title=Election Data 2015 |url=http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2015.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017112223/http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2015.txt |archive-date=17 October 2015 |access-date=17 October 2015 |publisher=Electoral Calculus}}{{cite news |title=Bootle |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000581 |access-date=10 May 2015 |work=BBC News}}

Dowd was one of 48 Labour MPs to vote against the second reading of the Conservative government's Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which included £12 billion in welfare cuts, on 20 July 2015. In doing so they defied the party's leadership, which had ordered MPs to abstain.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33604287 |title=Welfare cuts backed amid Labour revolt |publisher=BBC News |access-date=17 December 2015 |date=21 July 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150830043638/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-33604287 |archive-date=30 August 2015 |url-status=live }}

In February 2017, Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, appointed him to the position of Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.{{Cite twitter|

|title=I'm pleased to announce appointments to Labour's Shadow Cabinet @RLong_Bailey @SueHayman1 @Rees4Neath @Peter_Dowd

|user=jeremycorbyn

|number=829749541826154496

|date=9 February 2017

}}

Dowd was re-elected as MP for Bootle at the snap 2017 general election with an increased vote share of 84% and an increased majority of 36,200.{{cite news |date=11 May 2017 |title=General Election 2017: who is standing for election |url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/general-election-2017-who-standing-13023168 |work=Liverpool Echo}} He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 79.4% and a decreased majority of 34,556.{{cite news |title=Bootle Parliamentary constituency |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000581 |access-date=25 November 2019 |website=BBC News |publisher=BBC}} He was again re-elected at the 2024 general election with a decreased vote share of 68.7% and a decreased majority of 21,983.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001113 Bootle]

In November 2024, Dowd voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.{{cite web |title=Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Second Reading |url=https://votes.parliament.uk/votes/commons/division/1877 |website=Votes in Parliament |date=29 November 2024}}

Personal life

On 6 October 2020, Dowd's daughter, Jennie, died at the age of 31 following a cycling collision.{{cite news |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Luke |title=Sir Keir Starmer leads tributes to daughter of Labour MP killed in crash on Merseyside |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/keir-starmer-jennie-dowd-peter-labour-killed-crash-a4570666.html |access-date=15 October 2020 |work=Evening Standard |date=14 October 2020}} The driver was sentenced to 12 months in prison.{{Cite news|date=2021-10-05|title=Liverpool MP tells of 'unbearable' loss after daughter Jennie killed|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-58807574|access-date=2021-10-06}}