Linda June Riordan (née Haigh; 31 May 1953) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Labour

Co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Halifax from the 2005 general election until standing down in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Early life

Riordan was born in Halifax and graduated from the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

.‘RIORDAN, Linda’, Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2012; online edn, November 201
Profile
ukwhoswho.com; accessed 7 May 2015.Linda Riordan – Parliamentary candidates
, ukpolitics.telegraph.co.uk; accessed 7 May 2015. She served as a

Calderdale Calderdale () is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the ...

councillor for eleven years, representing the

Ovenden Ovenden is a village in West Yorkshire, England, next to Boothtown and Illingworth about a mile from Halifax town centre. It is also a Calderdale Ward whose population at the 2011 Census was 12,351. The area was scattered with pockets of Vic ...

ward from 1995 to 2006, when she stood down to devote herself full-time to her role as an MP. She worked as private secretary for her predecessor as Halifax's Labour MP

Alice Mahon Alice Mahon (; 28 September 1937 – 25 December 2022) was a British trade unionist and Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Halifax from 1987 until 2005. Mahon was a left-winger who was a member of the Socialist Ca ...

between 2001 and 2005, and was active in the local Co-operative Party as secretary and treasurer. She was chosen as the Labour candidate from an

all-women shortlist All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political p ...

but her candidacy was at first opposed by the Party's ruling National Executive Committee owing to concerns about selection process. She was later allowed to stand.

Parliamentary career

Riordan was elected in 2005 and returned to Parliament with a reduced majority in 2010. She served on various select committees including the Justice Committee, the Procedure Committee, the Environmental Audit Select Committee, the European Scrutiny Committee and the all-Party Crossrail Committee. She was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to

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 ...

in January 2015 calling on the party to commit to oppose further austerity, take rail franchises back into public ownership and strengthen collective bargaining arrangements In February 2015 she announced that she would be standing down at the general election in May, citing ill health.

Expenses

In December 2010 it was revealed that Riordan had secretly repaid £105.86 in wrongly claimed expenses. The repayment came about after Riordan had used

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 ...

stationery for party political purposes. Riordan apologised, blaming volunteers for the incident. In October 2012, the Speaker of the House of Commons,

John Bercow John Simon Bercow (; born 19 January 1963) is a British former politician who served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Pa ...

, blocked the release of data showing which MPs were letting their homes to other MPs for financial gain. However, a study of parliamentary records was published in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''.Expenses scandal: Labour MP made thousands letting flat to fellow member
''The Daily Telegraph'', 19 October 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013. This article listed problematic expense claims by Riordan and 26 other MPs, and said that she received rental income from a flat she owned in London which was rented out through an agencyMPs in expenses row defend renting arrangements
''The Guardian'', 19 October 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013. to fellow Labour MP

Iain McKenzie Iain McKenzie (born 4 April 1959) is a Scottish Labour Party politician, who was formerly the Member of Parliament for Inverclyde. He was elected at the June 2011 by-election, and stood unsuccessfully for re-election in the 2015 general elec ...

and was, at the same time, able to claim expenses on another flat she rented in the city under an arrangement allowed by

IPSA ''Ipsa'' is a genus of small or medium-sized sea snails, cowries, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.WoRMS (2010). ''Ipsa'' Jousseaume, 1884. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca d ...

rules.Linda Riordan promises to pay back profit on flat sale after renting to fellow Labour MP
''The Daily Telegraph'', 22 October 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013. Riordan, along with other MPs, said that under new rules she was banned from receiving mortgage interest expenses by IPSA and, as a result, had been forced to let the property. Days after the report, Riordan put the flat on the market, having previously tried to sell the flat in 2010. She pledged to ensure that any profit she gained from the sale would be paid back to the taxpayer.Update on Halifax MP Linda Riordan revelations – she says flat will be put up for sale
''Halifax Courier'', 23 October 2012; retrieved 10 February 2013.

Personal life

She was married to Alan Riordan from 1979 until his death in April 2007, aged 65, of

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by chronic respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. GOLD defines COPD as a heterogeneous lung condition characterized by chronic respiratory s ...

.MP's tribute to husband, Alan, 65
HalifaxCourier.co.uk; accessed 7 May 2015.

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riordan, Linda 1953 births Living people Politicians from Halifax, West Yorkshire Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2005–2010 Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Alumni of the University of Bradford European democratic socialists Councillors in Calderdale UK MPs 2010–2015 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians