Valerie Shawcross
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Valerie Shawcross is a British politician who served as Deputy Mayor of London for Transport from 2016 to 2018. A member of the
Labour Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated to Labour Co-op; ) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidates contest elections under an el ...
parties, she was
Member of the London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
for
Lambeth and Southwark Lambeth and Southwark is a constituency represented in the London Assembly. It consists of the London Borough of Lambeth and London Borough of Southwark. Since the first assembly elections in 2000 it has been represented by the Labour Party, ...
from 2000 to 2016. Shawcross was a Member of
Croydon London Borough Council Croydon London Borough Council, which styles itself Croydon Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Croydon in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. Croydon is divided into 28 wards, elect ...
from 1994 to 2000, and served as Leader of the Council from 1997 to 2000. She unsuccessfully stood, as the Labour candidate, to become
Mayor of Croydon The Mayor of Croydon is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Croydon London Borough Council. The current mayor is Jason Perry of the Conservative Party, elected in May 2022, and the first holder of the post. ...
in
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
.


Early life and education

Born on Langley Council Estate, Middleton, Shawcross attended local state schools before gaining a 2:1 degree in Political Theory and Institutions from the
University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
. She joined the Labour Party aged 19. Elected as the Deputy President of the Guild of Undergraduates in 1980, she moved to London in 1981 to take up a post at the UK Council for Students Affairs - UKCOSA (Charity). She gained an MA in Human Rights and Education at the London Institute in 1986.


Political career


Croydon Council

She served as a councillor for
New Addington New Addington is an area of South London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located 5 miles south east of Croydon and is adjacent to the Greater London boundary with Surrey. History Until the 1930s, the area now known as New ...
in
Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
from 1994 to 2000, serving as chair of education and later as leader of
Croydon London Borough Council Croydon London Borough Council, which styles itself Croydon Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Croydon in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. Croydon is divided into 28 wards, elect ...
from 1997 to 2000.


London Assembly and Deputy Mayoralty

She was first elected to the
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
in 2000, and retained her seat in subsequent elections. In 2000, the mayor of London
Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...
appointed her as the chair of the
London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) was a functional body of the Greater London Authority (GLA) from 2000 to 2018. It was established with the Greater London Authority by the Greater London Authority Act 1999. It replaced the ...
(LFEPA). She accepted the appointment on the condition that she would "consider herself bound by Labour's policies and not the mayor's", with Livingstone at the time being an
independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...
. In his memoir, Livingstone wrote that she "spent the next eight years transforming the London Fire Brigade, leading to a dramatic reduction in loss of life from fires, cutting waste and, later, organising emergency response procedures after 9/11". At the same time, she served as the Labour group's spokesperson for transport and as chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee. She also served on the Assembly Budget Scrutiny Committee, and chaired the audit committee immediately following her election. On 7 December 2010, it was announced that Shawcross would be Livingstone's running-mate in the
2012 London mayoral election The 2012 London mayoral election was an election held on Thursday 3 May 2012, to elect the Mayor of London. It was held on the same day as the London Assembly election, and used a supplementary vote system. Incumbent Tory mayor and future Pr ...
,
Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...
. Shawcross unsuccessfully sought selection as the Labour candidate for the
2012 Croydon North by-election On 29 November 2012, a UK Parliamentary by-elections, by-election was held for the UK House of Commons constituency of Croydon North (UK Parliament constituency), Croydon North in the London Borough of Croydon. The by-election was caused by the ...
, with Steve Reed becoming the candidate and winning the seat. In 2015, she announced that she would not seek re-election to the London Assembly at the 2016 elections. In May 2016,
Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
appointed her as deputy mayor of London for transport and deputy chair of Transport for London. In May 2018, she announced her retirement.


Retirement and Croydon Mayoralty

Following her retirement from full-time public life in 2018, she worked as chair of the Heathrow Area Transport Forum, and assumed roles in the Thames Festival Trust and Crystal Palace Park Trust. In October 2021, Shawcross announced her intention to stand to be the first directly elected
Mayor of Croydon The Mayor of Croydon is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Croydon London Borough Council. The current mayor is Jason Perry of the Conservative Party, elected in May 2022, and the first holder of the post. ...
. She was selected as Croydon Labour's 2022 mayoral candidate in December 2021. Shawcross was narrowly defeated by Conservative Jason Perry in the May 2022 Croydon Mayoral election, who won with a majority of less than 600 votes in the second round. Her campaign was damaged by dissatisfaction with the Labour-held Council, which had led the borough into bankruptcy.


Honours and awards

Shawcross was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) in the
2002 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in sup ...
for her services to local government. She was made an Honorary Alderwoman of the London Borough of Croydon in 2019, and is a Freewoman of the City of London. She has been recognised for her work in Transport in London by the business group ‘London First’, the ‘London Cycling Campaign', and the disability campaign group ‘Transport for All’.


Personal life

Shawcross is married to Michael Anteney and has lived in the London Borough of Croydon since 1985.


Footnotes


External links


Labour in Southwark
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shawcross, Valerie Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool Labour Party (UK) councillors Leaders of local authorities of England Councillors in the London Borough of Croydon Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Politics of the London Borough of Southwark People from Middleton, Greater Manchester Year of birth missing (living people) Labour Members of the London Assembly Labour Co-operative Members of the London Assembly Women councillors in England London AMs 2000–2004 London AMs 2004–2008 London AMs 2008–2012 London AMs 2012–2016