John Derek Twigg (born 9 July 1959) is a British Labour Party politician who currently serves as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Widnes and Halewood since

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, and for its predecessor constituency, Halton, from the 1997 general election until its abolition in 2024.

Early life

Twigg was born in

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and attended Bankfield High School in Widnes, and afterwards Halton College of Further Education (now Riverside College). At the age of 16, he joined the Civil Service and worked for the Department for Employment (at

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

) for the following 19 years. At 18, Twigg became branch secretary of the Civil and Public Services Association (now part of the Public and Commercial Services Union) before joining the Labour Party in 1979. He was elected to Cheshire County Council at the age of 21, serving as a county councillor until 1985. In 1983 he was elected to Halton Borough Council. Between 1996 and 1997, he also worked as a political consultant.

Parliamentary career

At the general election in 1997, Twigg succeeded Gordon Oakes as Member of Parliament for the constituency of Halton. He made his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

on 10 June 1997. He was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Helen Liddell, and then to

Stephen Byers Stephen John Byers (born 13 April 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallsend between 1992 and 1997, and North Tyneside from 1997 to 2010. He served in the Cabinet from 1998 to 2002, and w ...

, before serving as a Government Whip from June 2002 until 2004. In December 2004, Twigg was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education and Skills. On 1 May 2005, he was booed and jeered while defending school league tables at the annual National Association of Head Teachers conference. After the general election of May 2005, he became Under-Secretary of State in the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

. In September 2006, Twigg was appointed Under-Secretary of State and Minister for Veterans at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

. In October 2008, he was replaced in this position and, declining the offer of another ministerial post, returned to the back benches. In 2013, he was one of 22 Labour MPs to vote against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, which eventually passed with cross-party support.

Personal life

Twigg married Mary Cassidy in January 1988 in

. He has a son and a daughter. Twigg's wife died on 26 November 2019; this led to him stepping away from his general election campaign and allowing his constituency party to run it on his behalf. Twigg's interests outside politics include hill walking, military history (particularly World War II) and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

. A lifelong

Liverpool FC Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...

supporter, Twigg attended the 1989 FA Cup semi-final tie between Liverpool and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

at the

Hillsborough stadium Hillsborough Stadium is a association football, football stadium in the area of Owlerton, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. With a total capacity of 39,732, it has been the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C., Sheffield Wednesday Football Club ...

, and watched the unfolding

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...

from the north stand.

References

External links

Derek Twigg, MP
''official constituency website''
''Debrett's People of Today''
* * , video , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Twigg, Derek 1959 births Living people People from Widnes Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Friends of Israel UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East UK MPs 2024–present