Jo Stevens

Joanna Meriel Stevens (born 6 September 1966) is a Welsh politician serving as Secretary of State for Wales since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2015, representing Cardiff East since 2024, having previously represented Cardiff Central.

Stevens previously served as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales from 2016 to 2017, and again from 2021 to 2024, and was Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2020 to 2021.

Early life and career

Stevens was born in Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales and grew up in Mynydd Isa, Flintshire, where she attended Argoed High School and Elfed High School.

She studied law at Manchester University and completed the Solicitors' Professional Examination at Manchester Polytechnic in 1989.

Before becoming an MP, Stevens was People and Organisation Director of Thompsons Solicitors.

Member of Parliament

Stevens was elected as MP for Cardiff Central on 7 May 2015 with a majority of 4,981, defeating incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Willott.

In 2014 she accused her then Liberal Democrat opponent Jenny Willott of having "neglected her constituency" by taking a ministerial role. In a 2015 interview Stevens said that, if elected, she'd be "happy as a backbench MP" adding she was "not a professional politician." Stevens later went on to serve in the shadow cabinets of Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer.

In Jeremy Corbyn's January 2016 reshuffle, she was appointed shadow solicitor general and shadow justice minister. She supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election. In the October 2016 reshuffle, after Corbyn's re-election as party leader, Stevens became Shadow Secretary of State for Wales. An opponent of Brexit, she resigned as a shadow minister on 27 January 2017 in order to vote against triggering Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, in defiance of a three-line whip that obliged Labour MPs to vote in favour. In March 2019, Stevens voted against the Labour Party whip and in favour of an amendment tabled by members of The Independent Group for a second public vote on Brexit.

Stevens chairs the GMB parliamentary group, which ensures that issues of importance to members of the GMB trade union are raised in the House of Commons.

Stevens supported Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour leadership election. He subsequently appointed her Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, shadowing Oliver Dowden. On 29 November 2021, she was reshuffled back to the position of Shadow Secretary of State for Wales by Keir Starmer.

In 2023, Stevens' office was defaced by protestors after she abstained on a motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. She described the incident as 'intimidating'.

In the 2024 general election, she was selected to contest the new Cardiff East constituency, after Cardiff Central was abolished. She won the seat, with a majority of 9,097 votes. Stevens was appointed Secretary of State for Wales in the first cabinet of Keir Starmer following the 2024 election.

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

Political positions

Stevens is a unionist. She has opposed devolution of policing and justice, of legal gender recognition, and full devolution of the post-Brexit Shared Prosperity Fund to the Senedd.

She opposed Brexit, describing herself as a "passionate European" in 2017. She has called for the introduction of legislation penalising social media companies that fail to tackle disinformation. She has supported introducing automatic voter registration upon receiving a national insurance number and lowering of the voting age to 16.

Personal life

In January 2021 Stevens was treated in hospital for COVID-19.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Jo
1966 births
Living people
21st-century British women politicians
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies
Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University
Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester
Welsh Labour MPs
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Cardiff constituencies
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–2024
UK MPs 2024–present
British abortion-rights activists
Politicians from Swansea
Politicians from Cardiff
People from Mold, Flintshire
Secretaries of State for Wales
Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East
Female members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Women government ministers in the United Kingdom