Bridget Phillipson

Bridget Maeve Phillipson (born 19 December 1983) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Houghton and Sunderland South since 2010.

Born in Gateshead, Phillipson attended St Robert of Newminster Catholic School. She went on to study at the University of Oxford before working in local government and then as a manager at Wearside Women in Need. Phillipson joined the Labour Party at the age of fifteen, and was elected the co-chair of Oxford University Labour Club in 2003. She was elected to the House of Commons at the 2010 general election as MP for Houghton and Sunderland South. She was reelected at the 2015 general election and campaigned to remain in the European Union (EU) in the 2016 Brexit referendum. She was reelected in both the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

Phillipson endorsed Keir Starmer's successful campaign in the 2020 Labour leadership election and subsequently joined his shadow cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In the November 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was promoted to Shadow Education Secretary. After Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, Phillipson was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities in the Starmer cabinet.

Early life and education

Bridget Phillipson was born on 19 December 1983 in Gateshead. Her mother is Clare Phillipson, who founded Wearside Women in Need, a charity based in Sunderland which provides refuge for women affected by domestic violence. She grew up in a deprived part of Washington, in a council house with no upstairs heating.

Phillipson's mother signed her up for Saturday morning drama lessons at the local community centre, which led to her being an extra on the children's TV programme '' Byker Grove''. She also learnt to play the violin. She attended St Robert of Newminster Catholic School in Washington, and went on to read modern history and modern languages (French) at the University of Oxford, where she was a student at Hertford College, and graduated with upper second-class honours in 2005. She joined Labour as a member at fifteen years old, and was elected co-chair of the Oxford University Labour Club in 2003. After university, she returned to the North East, where she worked for two years in local government, and then as a manager at Wearside Women in Need between 2007 and 2010, the charity her mother founded.

Parliamentary career

Backbencher

Phillipson was selected from an all-women shortlist as the Labour candidate for Houghton and Sunderland South in 2009. At the 2010 general election, Phillipson was elected as MP for Houghton and Sunderland South with 50.3% of the vote and a majority of 10,990. After entering parliament, she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jim Murphy, who was then the shadow defence secretary. Between October 2013 and September 2015, she served as Opposition Whip in the House of Commons.

She was elected to the Home Affairs Committee in July 2010, and remained a member until November 2013. She was a member of the Public Bill Committee for the Defence Reform Act 2014, and of the Procedure Committee between July 2010 and October 2011. She has also been a member of the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission since October 2010, and both the Committee on Standards and the Committee on Privileges since October 2017. She was a member of the Public Accounts Committee and the European Statutory Instruments Committee. From 2010 to 2015, she was secretary to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Domestic and Sexual Violence, which published the report "The Changing Landscape of Domestic and Sexual Violence Services" in February 2015.

At the 2015 general election, Phillipson was re-elected as MP for Houghton and Sunderland South with an increased vote share of 55.1% and an increased majority of 12,938.

In the 2016 Brexit referendum, she campaigned for a Remain vote, and in 2018 was one of the first Labour MPs to call for a referendum on any eventual deal with the EU.

She was again re-elected at the snap 2017 general election, with an increased vote share of 59.5% and a decreased majority of 12,341. At the 2019 general election, Phillipson was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 40.7% and a decreased majority of 3,115.

In Labour Party leadership elections, she voted for David Miliband in 2010, Yvette Cooper in 2015, Owen Smith in 2016, and Keir Starmer in 2020.

At the 2024 general election, Philipson was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 47.1% and an increased majority of 7,169.

Opposition frontbencher (2020–2024)

Following Keir Starmer's leadership election victory in April 2020, Phillipson was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet for the first time, as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. She served in that role under successive Shadow Chancellors Anneliese Dodds and Rachel Reeves. On 29 November 2021 she was moved to the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Education, responsible for Labour's education policy in England.

As shadow secretary of state for education, Phillipson set out Labour's plans for reform of the childcare and wider education systems, starting with plans for funded breakfast clubs for every primary school child in every school in England. She called for reform of Ofsted, the inspectorate of school standards in England, to move away from simplistic one-word summary overall judgements, the imposition of VAT on private schools to fund thousands more teachers in England's schools, a full curriculum and assessment review, including a focus on weaving speaking and listening skills through the curriculum, new incentives to retain teachers in the classroom, two weeks' worth of compulsory work experience for all young people, and improved access to careers guidance and mental health in schools.

She spoke and wrote extensively about the particular importance of childcare for children, parents and families, and the need for a system that stretches from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school. She confirmed that the next Labour government would not abolish tuition fees altogether, and called for far-reaching changes to the skills system in England, including the creation of a new body to be called 'Skills England', devolution of skills and adult education budgets, and greater flexibility with the existing Apprenticeship Levy.

Secretary of State for Education (2024–present)

Following the Labour landslide victory in the 2024 general election, Phillipson was appointed as the Secretary of State for Education by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the lead-up to the formation of the next government on 5 July. She was appointed Minister for Women and Equalities on 8 July, with Anneliese Dodds as her junior minister.

Phillipson was sworn of the Privy Council on 10 July 2024, entitling her to be styled "The Right Honourable" for life.

After the treasury minister, James Murray, rejected calls to delay the introduction of VAT on private school fees in October 2024, Phillipson was criticised by multiple MPs after she posted on X "Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery. Our children need mental health support more than private schools need new pools. Our students need careers advice more than private schools need AstroTurf pitches." Conservative MP Graham Stuart described her post as "malicious and spiteful", and called for an apology. Opposition whip, Luke Evans, said the post "reeks of prejudice and propagates a class war” and shadow treasury minister, Nigel Huddleston, said of it "Parents who send their children to independent schools, who pay twice on their children’s education, deserve better than to be treated with contempt by their government’s education secretary.

Constituency campaigns

Phillipson has campaigned successfully on a number of local issues, including forcing a government U-turn on the rebuilding of Hetton School in Hetton-le-Hole, after plans to do so were cancelled by the Conservative-led government in 2010. The school was eventually rebuilt and reopened in 2016. She also led a campaign to improve standards and affordability of bus transport in Tyne and Wear, calling for the development of a quality contract scheme to be run by Nexus, the passenger transport executive for the North East Combined Authority. The government-appointed review board eventually refused permission for Nexus to advance the scheme.

Civil rights

As Minister for Women and Equalities, Phillipson said that trans women should not use women's toilets in April 2025. This was in response to a UK Supreme Court ruling on the definition of man and woman in the Equality Act.

Personal life

Phillipson met her husband in Newcastle upon Tyne after she graduated from the University of Oxford, and has two sons. She is a Roman Catholic. She supports abortion rights, having voted to expand them in Northern Ireland, but opposes euthanasia.Right to Life
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References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillipson, Bridget
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Living people
1983 births
Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford
English Roman Catholics
People from Gateshead
Politicians from Tyne and Wear
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Labour Friends of Israel
21st-century British women politicians
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–2024
UK MPs 2024–present
21st-century English women
21st-century English politicians
Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East
Female members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom
British Secretaries of State for Education
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Women government ministers in the United Kingdom