Lilian Greenwood facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lilian Greenwood
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Official portrait, 2024
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| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Future of Roads | |||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 5 July 2024 |
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| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Guy Opperman | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chair of the Finance Committee | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 29 January 2020 – 25 May 2021 |
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| Preceded by | Chris Bryant | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Nick Brown | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chair of the Transport Committee | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 13 July 2017 – 29 January 2020 |
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| Preceded by | Louise Ellman | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Huw Merriman | ||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament for Nottingham South |
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| Assumed office 6 May 2010 |
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| Preceded by | Alan Simpson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Majority | 10,294 (31.3%) | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
Lilian Rachel Greenwood
26 March 1966 Bolton, Lancashire, England |
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| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | St Catharine's College, Cambridge (BA) | ||||||||||||||||||
Lilian Rachel Greenwood (born 26 March 1966) is a British politician from the Labour Party. She has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham South since 2010. Since July 2024, she has served as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Future of Roads. This means she helps lead the government department responsible for transport, specifically focusing on roads.
Before her current role, Lilian Greenwood held several important positions. She was a "Shadow Secretary of State" for Transport from 2015 to 2016. This role is part of the Shadow Cabinet, which is like a "shadow government" formed by the main opposition party. She also chaired important committees in Parliament, like the Transport Committee and the Commons Finance Committee.
Early Life and Education
Lilian Greenwood was born on 26 March 1966 in Bolton, Lancashire, England. She went to Canon Slade School, which is a local Church of England secondary school. After that, she studied at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, one of the colleges at the famous University of Cambridge.
In 1999, she moved to Southwell, Nottinghamshire. For 17 years, she worked for Unison, which is a large trade union in the UK. A trade union is an organization that protects the rights and interests of workers.
Becoming a Member of Parliament
In 2007, the MP for Nottingham South, Alan Simpson, announced he would not run for re-election. Lilian Greenwood was chosen by the Labour Party to be their candidate for the area.
In the 2010 general election, she was elected as the MP for Nottingham South. She won with 37.3% of the votes, which was 4.4% more than her closest competitor.
Roles in Parliament
Soon after becoming an MP, Lilian Greenwood joined the Transport Select Committee. This committee is a group of MPs who look closely at how the government handles transport issues. She also became an assistant whip. A whip's job is to make sure MPs from their party vote in a certain way.
In 2011, she was promoted to the role of Shadow Minister for Rail. She kept this job until the 2015 general election. After that election, she became the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. This was a very important role in the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet.
In 2016, Lilian Greenwood resigned from the Shadow Cabinet. This happened after the 2016 EU referendum when many Labour MPs felt their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was not leading strongly enough.
As a backbencher (an MP who is not a minister or shadow minister), she continued to be very active. She chaired the Transport Select Committee from 2017 to 2020. She also chaired the Commons Finance Committee from 2020 to 2021. These roles involve overseeing different areas of government work. She also sat on other important committees like the Liaison Committee and the Education Select Committee.
She was re-elected as MP for Nottingham South in the 2017 and 2019 General Elections.
In February 2020, Lilian Greenwood had to self-quarantine. This was because she had attended a conference where someone later tested positive for COVID-19 pandemic. She took this step to help prevent the spread of the virus.
In May 2021, she returned to a front-bench role. She was appointed as the Opposition Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Commons. In this role, she helped manage the Labour Party's legislative work.
Lilian Greenwood is also a member of Labour Friends of Israel, a group within the Labour Party that supports Israel.
