Lilian Rachel Greenwood (born 26 March 1966) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham South since

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Future of Roads since July 2024. A former union official, she served as the

Shadow Secretary of State for Transport The shadow secretary of state for transport is a political post in the United Kingdom. It has been consistently held by a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet since May 1979. The sha ...

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 shadow cabinet from 2015 until her resignation in 2016, and as a shadow transport minister under opposition 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 ...

from 2011 to 2015. On the back benches, Greenwood chaired the Transport Select Committee from 2017 to 2020, and the Commons Finance Committee from 2020 to 2021. She served as the Opposition Deputy

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

of 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 ...

between 2021 and 2023, and the Shadow Minister for Arts, Heritage and Civil Society from 2023 until 2024.

Early life and career

Greenwood was born on the 26 March 1966 in Bolton, Lancashire. She attended Canon Slade School, a local Church of England state secondary school, before attending St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. Moving to

Southwell, Nottinghamshire Southwell ( , ) is a minster (church), minster and market town, and a civil parish, in the district of Newark and Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, England. It is home to the Listed building, grade-I listed Southwell Minster, the cathedral of the An ...

in 1999, Greenwood worked in the county for

Unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

, the public sector trade union, for 17 years.

Parliamentary career

Greenwood was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the 2010 general election after the incumbent Labour MP, Alan Simpson, announced in 2007 that he would not stand for re-election. She was elected as the MP with 37.3% of the vote, a margin of 4.4% over her closest rival. Shortly after her election, she joined the Transport Select Committee, and was subsequently appointed as an assistant opposition

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

. In late September 2011, she was promoted by Labour leader

to the role of Shadow Minister for Rail, a position she held until her re-election in the 2015 general election. Following the election of

as Leader of the Labour Party, on 14 September 2015 she was promoted to the Shadow cabinet as the

. Greenwood resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in the aftermath of the 2016 EU referendum, along with dozens of her colleagues, in protest against what she saw as

's weak leadership. She 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

in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. As a backbencher, Greenwood has chaired the Transport Select Committee and the Commons Finance Committee, and sat on the Liaison Committee,

Education Select Committee The Education Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and any asso ...

and Regulatory Reform Committee. She was re-elected at the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and 2019 General Elections, and backed

Lisa Nandy Lisa Eva Nandy (born 9 August 1979) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport since 2024. She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Wigan constituency since 2010. Nandy previ ...

in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election. Greenwood returned to the opposition front bench in May 2021, when she was appointed by Labour leader

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 ...

as the Opposition Deputy

of the

for legislation, succeeding Alan Campbell following his promotion to Chief Whip. Greenwood is a member of

Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that advocates a strong bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and Israel, and seeks to strengthen ties between the British Labour Party (UK), Labour ...

Personal life

Greenwood is married with three children.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Greenwood, Lilian 1966 births Living people Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Trade unionists from Nottinghamshire Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Bolton People from Southwell, Nottinghamshire Politicians from Nottingham UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 UK MPs 2024–present English women trade unionists 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East