Teresa Pearce (born 1 February 1955) is a British Labour Party

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Erith and Thamesmead from

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 ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, who was appointed as a Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning in September 2015. In the reshuffle of October 2016, Pearce was appointed as acting Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, standing down after the 2017 general election to concentrate on her constituency.

Early life

Teresa Pearce was born in

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, but was educated at the St Thomas More School in

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. For ten years prior to her election, she was a senior manager with

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

. She is a former

Bexley Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Ch ...

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

Parliamentary career

Pearce was elected to 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 ...

as Member of Parliament for Erith and Thamesmead in the 2010 general election with a majority of 5,703. In her maiden speech she stated her pride in the Labour Party's track record on

Sure Start Sure Start (named Flying Start in Wales, Best Start in Scotland) is a UK Government area-based initiative, announced in 1998 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, applying primarily in England with slightly different versions in ...

, the

future jobs fund The Future Jobs Fund was a UK government initiative introduced in 2009 which aimed to help long term unemployed people back into employment. It was cut by the Coalition government, Prime Minister David Cameron claiming the scheme was "expensive, ...

and the

national minimum wage The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (c. 39) creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom.. E McGaughey, ''A Casebook on Labour Law'' (Hart 2019) ch 6(1) From 1 April 2025, the minimum wage is £12.21 per hour for people aged 21 and over, £10. ...

. 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 ...

, she was re-elected with an increased majority of 9,525, gaining just under 50% of the vote. In Parliament, Pearce served on a number of Select Committees between 2010 and 2015, sitting on both the

Work and Pensions Select Committee The Work and Pensions 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 Work and Pen ...

(2010–2015) and the

Treasury Select Committee The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The committee is responsible for examining and scrutinizing the ...

(2011–2015). Pearce also shortly served on the

Public Accounts Committee A public accounts committee (PAC) is a committee within a legislature whose role is to study public audits, invite ministers, permanent secretaries or other ministry officials to the committee for questioning, and report on their findings subseque ...

(2015) before she was appointed to serve as Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning in September 2015. She was appointed as the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in the October 2016 reshuffle, but it was announced she intends to stand down from the post after the May 2017 local elections. 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

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 ...

in the

2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election The 2016 Labour Party leadership election was called when a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party arose following criticism of his approach to the Remain campaign in the referendum on membership of the European Union and q ...

. Pearce was re-elected in the

general election 2017 The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing Co ...

, with an increased majority of 10,014, gaining over 57% of the vote. In July 2019, Pearce announced that she would stand down at the next general election.

Personal life

Pearce has two adult daughters and two step children She had her first daughter when she was 18 and said she knows from experience what it is like to be "written off" as a teenage mother. She has 6 grandchildren. Olivia, Bella, Charlotte, Daniel, Erin and Millie. She now lives in Canterbury and retrained in 2021 as a Humanist celebrant.

References

External links

Teresa Pearce website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Teresa 1955 births Living people Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Councillors in the London Borough of Bexley Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England