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Debbie Abrahams

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Debbie Abrahams
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 September 2024
Preceded bySir Stephen Timms
Member of Parliament
for Oldham East and Saddleworth
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 January 2011
Preceded byPhil Woolas
Majority6,357 (15.9%)
Shadow portfolios
Shadow Secretary of State
2016–2018Work and Pensions
Shadow Minister
2015–2016Disabled People
Personal details
Born
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Morgan

(1960-09-15) 15 September 1960 (age 64)
Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse
​
(m. 1986)​
Alma materUniversity of Salford
University of Liverpool
Websitedebbieabrahams.org.uk

Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (née Morgan; born 15 September 1960) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Oldham East and Saddleworth since 2011. Abrahams was a member of the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn from 2015 to 2018. She remains in the House of Commons as a backbencher.

Early life and education

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Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Morgan was born on 15 September 1960 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire.[1][2] Her father was a dentist. She was educated at Kent College, a private girls' school in Tunbridge Wells, and received three O-levels.[3][4]

She studied at the Bolton Institute of Technology and received a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry and physiology from University of Salford. She was awarded a Master of Education degree from the University of Liverpool.[3]

Early career

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Her early employment was as a community worker for a charity in Wythenshawe in south Manchester, where she set up job training programmes for teenagers.[5] Abrahams was head of healthy cities for Knowsley and served on the board of Bury and Rochdale Health Authority.[5]

In 2002, Abrahams was appointed chair of Rochdale Primary Care Trust.[6] She was Director of the International Health Impact Assessment Consortium at the University of Liverpool between 2006 and 2010.[7]

Political career

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She resigned from the Chair of Rochdale Primary Care Trust in 2007, over the use of private health companies in the National Health Service, which she said was "destroying the NHS".[8] She then joined the Labour Party, declaring that she wanted "to challenge health policy at a local and national level to ensure that it reflects [the] core values" of the NHS. She was appointed by Simon Danczuk, then Labour candidate for Rochdale, as his advisor on health,[6] and she stood for Rochdale Borough Council in Milnrow and Newhey ward in the 2008 local elections.[9] She criticised the local council in Rochdale for failing to address health inequalities in the town.[10]

Parliamentary career

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At the 2010 general election, Abrahams stood as the Labour candidate in Colne Valley, coming third with 26.4% of the vote behind the Conservative candidate Jason McCartney and the Liberal Democrat candidate.[11][12]

In December 2010, Abrahams was placed on a shortlist of three to be the Labour Party candidate for the 2011 Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election.[13] At the by-election, Abrahams was elected to Parliament as MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth with 42.1% of the vote and a majority of 3,558.[14]

Abrahams was appointed parliamentary private secretary to Andy Burnham and elected Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party's Health Committee. In 2014, she organised an Inquiry Into The Effectiveness Of International Health Systems which she said demonstrated that "where there is competition, privatisation or marketisation in a health system, health equity worsens".[15] She sought to reassure Clinical commissioning groups that the Labour Party's proposed health reforms would not amount to a top-down 'big bang' shake up of the NHS.[16]

At the 2015 general election, Abrahams was re-elected as MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth with a decreased vote share of 39.4% and an increased majority of 6,002.[17][18]

She was elected as a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee in July 2015.[19] In September 2015, Abrahams was appointed Shadow Minister for Disabled People by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in recognition on her work with disabled people in the past.[20] Abrahams was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in June 2016, following Owen Smith's resignation from the Shadow Cabinet in the wake of the EU Referendum result.[21]

At the snap 2017 general election, Abrahams was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 54.5% and an increased majority of 8,182.[22] Abrahams was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 43.5% and a decreased majority of 1,503.[23]

In February 2021, Abrahams was one of three MPs who successfully took legal action against the Department of Health and Social Care over contracts awarded during the COVID-19 pandemic.[24]

She is a member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.[25] She is the current Chair of the APPG on Palestine.[26]

At the 2024 general election, Abrahams was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 35.2% and an increased majority of 6,357.[27][28]

In September 2024, she was elected chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.[29]

2018 bullying claims

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In March 2018, Abrahams was suspended from her position as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary whilst she was investigated by the Labour Party over a "workplace issue", reported by several media outlets to be related to claims that she bullied staff;[30] she has vehemently denied the claims, adding that she is the victim of a "bullying culture of the worst kind".[31][32] In May that year she was removed from the Shadow Cabinet. In a statement, Abrahams said: "I strongly refute the allegations of bullying made against me. I believe the investigation was not thorough, fair or independent." She said she would now go to the party's National Executive Committee disputes panel.[33][34]

Awards

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In January 2013, Abrahams was awarded the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award in the Business Driver category, for her campaign to improve late payments affecting small businesses. She not only signed up to be a Champion of the Federation of Small Businesses Real-Life Entrepreneurs Campaign, but has been at the forefront of a campaign to improve the speed with which small businesses are paid by their customers.[35]

Personal life

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Abrahams married John Abrahams, a former captain of Lancashire County cricket team, in the late 1980s. They have two daughters, Victoria and Dawn.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  2. ^ "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11776.
  3. ^ a b Butler, Patrick (13 January 2016). "Labour takes to the road to reconnect with disabled people". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  4. ^ "Winning formula of a woman on the up". www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Macmillan, Ross (13 January 2011). "Oldham candidates standing in today's by-election". 24dash. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  6. ^ a b "Simon Danczuk announces new health advisor". Rochdale Online. 17 March 2008. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  7. ^ "About – Institute of Psychology Health and Society". University of Liverpool. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  8. ^ "Health boss quits over private company use". Manchester Evening News. 13 August 2007. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  9. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael, eds. (2008). "Rochdale" (PDF). Local elections handbook 2008: the 2008 local election results. Plymouth: Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth. p. 47. ISBN 9780948858437.
  10. ^ Staff writer (22 March 2008). "Council must share responsibility for damning report". Rochdale Online. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  11. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  12. ^ "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Colne Valley". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  13. ^ "Labour picks Debbie Abrahams for by-election". Saddleworth News. 12 December 2010. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  14. ^ "Ten Candidates To Fight By-Election". Saddleworth News. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  15. ^ Abrahams, Debbie (22 May 2014). "Inquiry into the effectiveness of international health systems". Socialist Health Association. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  16. ^ Hazell, Will (16 October 2014). "Labour seeks to mollify reorganisation fears". Local Government Chronicle. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  17. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  18. ^ "Election 2015 – Oldham East & Saddleworth". BBC News. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  19. ^ "Work and Pensions Committee – membership". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  20. ^ Staff writer (18 September 2015). "DPAC Welcome Debbie Abrahams as the new Shadow Minister for Disabled People". Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC). Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  21. ^ Gaul, Phil (9 February 2015). "About Debbie". debbieabrahams.org. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  22. ^ "Oldham East & Saddleworth parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  23. ^ Sansome, Jessica; Otter, Saffron (14 November 2019). "All the Greater Manchester General Election 2019 candidates". men. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  24. ^ "Coronavirus: 'Right' to delay contract transparency in pandemic, says Hancock". BBC News. 21 February 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  25. ^ "Parliamentary Supporters". LFPME. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  26. ^ "Debbie Abrahams Twitter/X". Twitter.
  27. ^ "General Election 4 July 2024 results". Oldham Council. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  28. ^ "Oldham East and Saddleworth results". BBC News. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  29. ^ Conway, Callum (30 October 2024). "Work and Pensions Committee members announced". Pensions Age Magazine. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  30. ^ Walker, Peter (11 March 2018). "Labour's Debbie Abrahams investigated by party over workplace issue". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  31. ^ Staff writer (12 March 2018). "Row as Labour's Debbie Abrahams leaves front bench". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  32. ^ Demianyk, Graeme; Forrester, Kate (11 March 2018). "Labour's Debbie Abrahams forced to quit Shadow Cabinet over 'workplace issue'". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  33. ^ Staff writer (8 May 2018). "Debbie Abrahams MP has been sacked from Labour's shadow Cabinet". Granada Reports. ITV Granada. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  34. ^ Staff writer (8 May 2018). "Abrahams axed from shadow cabinet over bullying claims". BBC News. Archived from the original on 10 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  35. ^ "Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who". Grassroot Diplomat. 15 March 2015. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Oldham East and Saddleworth
2011–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
2016–2018 		Succeeded by
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