Jamieson Ronald "Jamie" Reed (born 4 August 1973) is a British former politician who served as
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Copeland from 2005 to 2017. A member of the
Labour Party, he was a Shadow
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister from 2010 to 2011 and a Shadow
Health
Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...
Minister from 2011 to 2015.
Early life and career
Reed was born in
Whitehaven, Cumbria and educated at
Whitehaven School. He graduated with a
BA in English from
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...
and an
MA in Mass Communications from the
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...
.
Before his election to Parliament, he worked as a Press Officer at
Sellafield
Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste storage, nuclear waste processing and storage and nucle ...
, a
nuclear reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing is the chemical separation of fission products and actinides from spent nuclear fuel. Originally, reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing nuclear weapons. With commercialization of nuclear power, the ...
and
decommissioning site, and served on
Copeland Borough Council Copeland or Copeland's may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Copeland, New South Wales
Canada
* Copeland Islands (Nunavut)
* Copeland Islands Marine Provincial Park, in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia
* Mount Copeland, also Copeland Ridg ...
.
Parliamentary career
In 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 ...
Reed
declared himself to be a Jedi in the debate over the
Racial and Religious Hatred Bill
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (c. 1) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which creates an offence in England and Wales of inciting hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. The Act was the Labour Governm ...
under consideration in Parliament. His comment was intended to be taken ironically and raise the issue of how the Bill would define what was and was not a religion.
Jamie Reed has also referred to himself as a "good
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
" in parliamentary debate:
As a good Methodist, I shall refuse the opportunity to bet. My hon. friend mentioned the economic estimates done by a German economist on the amount of money spent on nuclear technology and nuclear research and development. Are we talking principally about the civil nuclear sector? Is the military nuclear sector also included? He also mentioned the IAEA
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
. It does not exist to promote the nuclear industry; it exists to give it some kind of international regulatory framework.
In November 2006, Reed was appointed
Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to
Tony McNulty
Anthony James McNulty (born 3 November 1958) is a retired British politician who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East from 1997 to 2010. During his ministerial career, which began in 2003, he was Minister for London and ...
,
Minister of State Policing, Security and Community Safety.
He became PPS to
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman, Baroness Harman, (born 30 July 1950), is a British politician and solicitor who served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the Labour Party (UK), Chair of the Labour Pa ...
,
Leader of the House of Commons
The Leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The Leader is always a memb ...
and
Minister for Women, in October 2008.
Reed served on the opposition front bench as a Shadow Environment Minister from 2010 to 2010, and a Shadow Health Minister from 2011 to 2015.
He spoke out to assist his party leader
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...
, who declared he felt "respect" on seeing a white van, following
Emily Thornberry
Dame Emily Anne Thornberry, Lady Nugee (born 27 July 1960), is a British Labour politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005. She served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales from ...
's "White Van Gate" tweet during the
2014 Rochester and Strood by-election
A by-election was held on 20 November 2014 for the UK parliamentary constituency of Rochester and Strood in Kent, England. The sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Mark Reckless called it on joining the UK Independence Party (UKIP), from the C ...
campaign, stating during
PMQs: "When I see a white van, I wonder whether it's my father or my brother who is driving".
On 12 September 2015, one minute into
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
's acceptance speech as leader of the
Labour Party, he publicly resigned as shadow Health Minister giving as his reason Corbyn's opposition to nuclear energy. During a House of Commons debate on the renewal of Britain's nuclear deterrent, which Corbyn personally opposes, he described the Labour leader as "reckless, juvenile and narcissistic". He 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 failed attempt to replace
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
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 ...
.
He announced on 21 December 2016 that he would be resigning his seat at the end of January 2017 in order to take up a new role as Head of Development and Community Relations for
Sellafield Ltd
Sellafield Ltd is a British nuclear decommissioning Site Licence Company (SLC) controlled by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a UK government body set up specifically to deal with the nuclear legacy under the Energy Act 2004. Fro ...
, triggering a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
,
which was won by Conservative MP
Trudy Harrison
Trudy Lynne Harrison (born 19 April 1976) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Copeland from the February 2017 by-election to the 2024 general election. Her election marked the first tim ...
. Reed formally resigned by taking the post of Steward of the
Manor of Northstead
Northstead is an area on the North Bay of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. The area near Newlands and Barrowcliff includes Peasholm Park and Scarborough Open Air Theatre.
In 2011, the namesake ward had a population of 4,038. Since 2 ...
on 23 January 2017.
References
External links
Official website''The Guardian'' – Jamie Reed: Electoral history and profile*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Jamie
1973 births
Living people
Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University
Cumbria MPs
English Methodists
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017