Jo Stevens
MP
Official portrait, 2020
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
Assumed office
29 November 2021
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byNia Griffith
In office
7 October 2016 – 27 January 2017
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byPaul Flynn
Succeeded byChristina Rees
Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
In office
6 April 2020 – 29 November 2021
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byTracy Brabin
Succeeded byLucy Powell
Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office
13 January 2016 – 6 October 2016
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byKarl Turner
Succeeded byNick Thomas-Symonds
Member of Parliament
for Cardiff Central
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byJenny Willott
Majority17,179 (41.1%)
Personal details
Born
Joanna Meriel Stevens

(1966-09-06) 6 September 1966
Swansea, Wales
Political partyLabour
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
Manchester Metropolitan
University
Websitewww.jostevens.co.uk

Joanna Meriel Stevens[1] (born 6 September 1966)[2] is a Welsh politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales since 2021, and previously from 2016 to 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Cardiff Central since 2015.[3]

Stevens previously served as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales from 2016 to 2017, and was Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2020 to 2021.

Early life and career

Stevens was born in Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales and grew up in Mynydd Isa, Flintshire, where she attended Argoed High School and Elfed High School.[4]

She studied law at Manchester University and completed the Solicitors' Professional Examination at Manchester Polytechnic in 1989.[5]

Prior to becoming an MP, Stevens was People and Organisation Director of Thompsons Solicitors.[4]

Member of Parliament

Stevens was elected as MP for Cardiff Central on 7 May 2015 with a majority of 4,981, defeating incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Willott.[3]

In 2014 she accused her then Liberal Democrat opponent Jenny Willott of having “neglected her constituency” by taking a ministerial role.[6] In a 2015 interview Stevens said that, if elected, she'd be “happy as a backbench MP” adding she was “not a professional politician.”[7] Stevens later went on to serve in the shadow cabinets of Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer.

In Jeremy Corbyn's January 2016 reshuffle, she was appointed shadow solicitor general and shadow justice minister. She supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. In the October 2016 reshuffle, after Corbyn's re-election as party leader, Stevens became Shadow Secretary of State for Wales.[8] An opponent of Brexit, she resigned as a shadow minister on 27 January 2017 in order to vote against triggering Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, in defiance of a three-line whip that obliged Labour MPs to vote in favour.[9] In March 2019, Stevens voted against the Labour Party whip and in favour of an amendment tabled by members of The Independent Group for a second public vote on Brexit.[10]

Stevens chairs the GMB parliamentary group, which ensures that issues of importance to members of the GMB trade union are raised in the House of Commons.

Stevens supported Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.[11][12] He subsequently appointed her Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, shadowing Oliver Dowden.

On 29 November 2021, she was reshuffled back to the position of Shadow Secretary of State for Wales by Keir Starmer.[13]

Personal life

In January 2021 Stevens was treated in hospital for COVID-19.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "No. 61230". The London Gazette. 18 May 2015. p. 9127.
  2. ↑ "Jo Stevens MP". myparliament.info. MyParliament. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Cardiff Central Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Democracy Club CVs". Democracy Club. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Jo Stevens – About". Jo Stevens MP. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  6. ↑ ITV News (4 November 2014). "Cardiff MP Jenny Willott quits government role". ITV News. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  7. ↑ David Deans (5 April 2015). "General Election 2015: Meet the women set to vie for one of Wales' tightest marginals". WalesOnline. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  8. ↑ "As it happened: Steven Woolfe in hospital and Labour reshuffle". BBC News. 6 October 2016. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  9. ↑ Elgot, Jessica (27 January 2017). "Labour MP Jo Stevens quits shadow cabinet over article 50 vote". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  10. ↑ Mosalski, Ruth (14 March 2019). "Brexit latest: The Welsh MPs who voted for a second referendum". Wales Online.
  11. ↑ "My nomination for the next Labour Leader | Jo Stevens MP". Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  12. ↑ "Labour leadership: Who are Welsh MPs backing?". BBC News. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  13. ↑ Stevens, Jo [@JoStevensLabour] (29 November 2021). "I'm moving Shadow Cabinet jobs from DCMS to Wales" (Tweet). Retrieved 29 November 2021 – via Twitter.
  14. ↑ "Jo Stevens: Labour's shadow culture secretary in hospital with COVID-19". Sky News. 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
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