Joyce Quin

Joyce Gwendolen Quin, Baroness Quin, (born 26 November 1944), is a British Labour Party politician. She was a member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1989, and served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Gateshead East and Washington West and for its predecessor Gateshead East from 1987 to 2005. Quin was appointed a life peer in 2006 and sat in the House of Lords until her retirement in 2024.

Early life and career

Quin was educated at Whitley Bay Grammar School and Newcastle University, where she gained first-class honours in French and came top in her year. She subsequently gained an Master of Science (MSc) degree in international relations at the London School of Economics. She worked as a French language lecturer and tutor at the University of Bath and Durham University. Quin is the great-niece of Labour Party politician Joshua Ritson (1874–1955).

She served as a member of the European Parliament for Tyne South and Wear and Tyne and Wear successively from 1979 to 1989. During her time as an MEP she served as Labour spokesperson on Fisheries from 1979 to 1984. She was a member of the Agriculture, Women's Rights, Regional and Economic Affairs Committee. In 1979, she tabled the resolution to set up a Register of Members' Interests which was eventually accepted by the European Parliament.

Member of Parliament

Quin entered the House of Commons in the 1987 election as Member of Parliament for Gateshead East. In Opposition (1987–1997) she served on the Labour front bench as a Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs, Trade Policy, Regional Policy and Employment (dealing with the EU Social Chapter). From 1994 to 1997 she served as Shadow Europe Minister and was Deputy to Shadow Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.

After boundary changes for the 1997 general election, she represented the new Gateshead East and Washington West constituency from 1997 until she stepped down at the 2005 general election and was replaced by Sharon Hodgson. Quin served as prisons minister, Minister for Europe, and as Minister of State for Agriculture (and deputy to Cabinet Minister, Nick Brown). She asked to retire as a minister in 2001 to concentrate on her constituency interests. She had intended to stand for membership of a North East Regional Assembly on her retirement from Westminster, but the proposed body was rejected by a margin of 4–1 in a referendum in November 2004. In Parliament as a backbencher Quin was the first woman to chair the Northern Group of Labour MPs and Chaired the All-Party Group for France (Franco-British Parliamentary Group). She successfully lobbied Chancellor Gordon Brown to bring in the nationwide concessionary bus travel scheme for pensioners

Life peer

In April 2006, it was announced that Quin had been nominated for a life peerage by the Labour Party. On 30 May, she was created ''Baroness Quin, of Gateshead in the County of Tyne and Wear''. Quin was appointed a shadow Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs minister by Harriet Harman in May 2010, and was retained in that role by Ed Miliband after his election as Leader of the Labour Party. She stood down from this position in July 2011.

In November 2007, Baroness Quin was appointed Chair of the Franco-British Council (British Section).

She was interviewed in 2014 as part of The History of Parliament's oral history project.

Quin retired from the House of Lords on 19 December 2024, having made her valedictory speech on 11th December

Other Roles and Publications

Quin has volunteered as a Newcastle City Tourist Guide since 1976. She is President of the Northumbrian Pipers' Society (since 2009) and President of th
Northumberland National Park Foundation
(since 2016). She served as Chair of the Strategic Board of Tyne and Wear Museums between 2017 and 2023 (museums now called North East Museums).

In 2010 Quin authored a book titled "The British Constitution, Continuity and Change - An Inside View: Authoritative Insight into How Modern Britain Works"
Robert Waller, Byron Criddle, ''The Almanac of British politics''
(vol 7), Routledge (2002); , , page 383. published by Northern Writers

Quin co-authored "Angels of the North - Notable Women of the North-East" with Moira Kilkenny, published 2018, reprinted 2019 by Tyne Bridge Publishing . Together they published the second volume "Angels of the North - More Notable Women of the North-East" in 2024 with Tyne Bridge Publishing .

European Movement

Quin served as Vice-President of the European Movement UK from 2005 to 2024. Since 2024 she contributes through her role as a Patron.

Honours

Honorary Fellow, Sunderland Polytechnic (now University of Sunderland) 1986.

Honorary Fellowship of St. Mary’s College, Durham University, 1994.

Freeman of the Borough of Gateshead, 2006.

Awarded " Officier de la Légion d'Honneur" by the French Government, 2010.

Honorary Doctorate of Civil Laws, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2023.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quin, Joyce
1944 births
Living people
20th-century British women politicians
20th-century women MEPs for England
21st-century British women politicians
21st-century English politicians
21st-century English women
Academics of Durham University
Academics of the University of Bath
Alumni of Newcastle University
Alumni of the London School of Economics
British people of Irish descent
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Labour Party (UK) life peers
Labour Party (UK) MEPs
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II
Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
MEPs for England 1979–1984
MEPs for England 1984–1989
Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014
Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005