Julie Minns (born 11 December 1968) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

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 ...

. A member of the Labour Party, Minns is the first female MP to represent the constituency.

Early life

Family

Minns's father, who died in 2007, was a painter and decorator whilst her mother, Freda, is a former home-help. Minns is a distant cousin of Ernest Lowthian, who was the first Labour politician to stand for election to the UK parliament in the Carlisle constituency, and her great grandfather John Hodgson-Minns, was a Conservative councillor and alderman of the city

Childhood and education

Minns was born in Carlisle. She grew up in the Denton Holme area of the city and attended Trinity School, Carlisle. She had a part-time job at a bakery and was the first member of her family to go to university.

Career

Minns was elected as a Councillor onto

Lambeth Council Lambeth London Borough Council, which styles itself Lambeth Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Lambeth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of the 32 in London. The council has been under Labour ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, in the

Thornton ward Thornton ward was an administrative division of the London Borough of Lambeth, United Kingdom from 1965 to 2022. The ward comprised the communities of Clapham Park and the Hyde Farm Estate. The ward shared the borough's western boundary with W ...

and held the transport portfolio whilst serving on the council. She stepped down in 2002 to bring up her daughter as a

single parent A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include death, divorce, break-up, abandonment, bec ...

. From 2005 to 2008, Minns was a director of

Living Streets (UK) Living Streets is a charity from the United Kingdom. Their goal is to promote pedestrian safety. It was founded in 1929 as the Pedestrians' Association and became known as the Pedestrians' Association for Road Safety in 1952. The current name ...

. Before entering Parliament, Minns worked as a freelance communications consultant. Prior to this, she worked as head of customer engagement at

UK Power Networks UK Power Networks (UKPN) is a distribution network operator for electricity covering South East England, the East of England and London. It manages three licensed distribution networks (Eastern Power Networks, South Eastern Power Networks and Lo ...

, as a parliamentary adviser for the

NSPCC The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies t ...

and as a parliamentary officer for the disability rights charity Scope. Minns also worked on

John Smith's John Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, produces beers including John Smith's, the highest selling bitter in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s. The majority of John Smith's sales are of the nitrogenated Extra Smooth ...

Labour leadership campaign, and as a parliamentary adviser to former

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

Labour MP Keith Hill. Minns held a part-time consultancy role at public relations, reputation management, and marketing company

Bell Pottinger BPP Communications Ltd., which did business as Bell Pottinger Private, was a British multinational public relations, reputation management and marketing company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. On 12 September 2017 it went into admini ...

in 2014. She then was an

LLP A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit aspects of both partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is n ...

member at the company from January 2015 to August 2016. The company went out of business in 2017 following a scandal related to the

Gupta Family The Gupta family is a wealthy and influential business family from India, with close ties to former South African President Jacob Zuma and his administration. The family's most notable members are the brothers Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh "Tony" Gupt ...

, who had an account with the company from January 2016. In 2023

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

magazine claimed that Minns had attempted to conceal her employment by the company in her online profile. Minns responded by correcting her profile and confirming that she had left the company over a year before its closure. Minns was Chair of the Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths community group, which aimed to restore and reopen the baths.

Parliamentary career (2024–present)

Minns was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the Carlisle constituency in February 2023, through a local selection process. She was elected to Parliament in the

2024 UK general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a landslide victory over the governing Conservative Party unde ...

with a majority of 5,200 votes and is the constituency's first female MP. On 16 July 2024, Minns requested a meeting with water regulator

Ofwat The Water Services Regulation Authority, or Ofwat, is a non-ministerial government department and body responsible for the economic regulation of the privatised water and sewerage industry in England and Wales. Ofwat's main statutory duties incl ...

after it was revealed that the regulator was expanding its investigation into how companies manage sewer treatment, and subsequently welcomed the probe into

United Utilities United Utilities Group plc (UU) is the United Kingdom's largest listed water company. It was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West En ...

; stating that the Labour government would not tolerate "sewage being pumped into our rivers, lakes and seas ". On 23 July, Minns voted against the SNP amendment to the King's speech to scrap the two-child benefit cap. In July 2024, Minns joined the Labour Growth Group and was amongst the original 54 MPs who wrote a letter to Prime Minister

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 ...

asking him to deliver on the party's manifesto commitment to build 1.5 million homes by the end of the current parliament. Following the government announcement that the Winter Fuel Allowance was to be removed from pensioners not in receipt of Pension Credit, the issue was discussed and voted on by MPs on the 10th of September 2024 with Minns voting in favour of the government position to remove the payment. In November 2024, Minns was appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary to 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 ...

(DfT).

Personal life

Minns has a daughter, who is a student nurse.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minns, Julie Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies 21st-century English women politicians Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Carlisle Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 2024–present Councillors in the London Borough of Lambeth Labour Party (UK) councillors Women councillors in England Politicians from Carlisle, Cumbria Cumbria MPs Year of birth missing (living people)