Christina Rees (born 21 February 1954) is a Welsh politician who served as Member of Parliament for

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

from 2015 to 2024. She is a member of the Labour and Co-operative parties.

Early life

Rees was born on 21 February 1954, in the South Wales village of

Kenfig Hill Kenfig Hill () is a village in Bridgend County Borough, South Wales. It is bordered by Pyle to the south-west, Cefn Cribwr to the north-east, North Cornelly to the south and Moel Ton-Mawr mountain to the north. The nearest train station is Py ...

. Her father died early in her teenage years, so she was raised by her mother. Rees became head girl of Cynffig Comprehensive School and excelled at a number of sports. Speaking as an adult, she stated: "I was very shy when I was a child and was bullied, so my mother sent me to judo classes to strengthen me up. I got a black belt first dan when I was 13." Rees represented Wales Schools at

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

, and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. Rees was also a member of the Great Britain Youth Team that competed at the Munich Olympics. Rees was successful at squash, a sport for which she has represented

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

over 100 times.

Career

Rees practised as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

before her election to Parliament. She stood as the Labour candidate for Arfon in the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

elections in May 2011, and was placed fourth on Labour's Wales-wide list for the 2014 European Elections. Rees became MP for

following the UK general election of 2015. She was re-elected at the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,074,800 registered voters entitled to vote to elect 650 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Un ...

, but with a majority half of that she had in 2017. Rees was appointed Shadow Minister for Courts and Legal Aid in January 2016, but quit her position during the mass resignation of Shadow ministers following the EU referendum. She supported

Owen Smith Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a British lobbyist and former Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. Smith was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontypridd (UK Parliament constituency), Pontypridd from 2 ...

in the

2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election The 2016 Labour Party leadership election was called when a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party arose following criticism of his approach to the Remain campaign in the referendum on membership of the European Union and q ...

. She later became one of 33 Labour MPs to return to the front bench, taking the Courts and Legal Aid portfolio once again. In February 2017, she was appointed to the position of

Shadow Secretary of State for Wales The shadow secretary of state for Wales (or shadow Welsh secretary) is a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), UK Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the secretary of state for Wales and their department, t ...

. In the

2020 Labour Party leadership election Labour Party leadership elections were held in the following countries in 2020: * 2020 Labour Party leadership election (Ireland) *2020 Labour Party leadership election (UK) The 2020 Labour Party leadership election was triggered after Jeremy C ...

, Rees endorsed

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

for

Labour Leader The ''Labour Leader'' was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later renamed ''New Leader'' and ''Socialist Leader'', before finally taking the name ''Labour Leader'' again. 19th century The origins of th ...

. She endorsed

Angela Rayner Angela Rayner (' Bowen; born 28 March 1980) is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government since 2024 United Kingdom general election, Jul ...

for

deputy leader A deputy leader (in Scottish English, sometimes depute leader) in the Westminster system is the second-in-command of a political party, behind the party leader. Deputy leaders often become Deputy prime minister when their parties are elected to go ...

. In April 2020, Rees announced that she would be leaving the

Official Opposition frontbench The frontbench of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the Shadow Cabinet and other official shadow ministers of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. The Opposition fr ...

. Rees was suspended from Labour on 13 October 2022, following allegations of bullying. She sat as an independent MP, until she was readmitted to the party and had the whip restored on 1 February 2024. The same day she announced that she would be standing down at the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

Personal life

Rees was married to Ron Davies, a former Labour MP and

Welsh Secretary The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a me ...

, with whom she had a daughter. The couple separated in 1999, after Davies admitted to allegations of infidelity, and divorced in 2000. Rees is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

Notes

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Christina 1954 births Living people Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies Labour Co-operative MPs for Welsh constituencies UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 Welsh Labour councillors 21st-century British women politicians People from Bridgend People from Neath Welsh barristers Welsh female athletes Welsh female squash players Women councillors in Wales Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Spouses of British politicians Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East