Katy Clark
Kathryn Sloan Clark is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for North Ayrshire and Arran from the 2005 to the 2015 general election when she lost her seat to Patricia Gibson, the SNP candidate.
Early life
Clark was born in Kilwinning went to Ayr Grammar Primary School then Kyle Academy, both in Ayr, before attending the University of Aberdeen, receiving an LLB in 1990. She received a Diploma in Legal Practice from the University of Edinburgh in 1991. She qualified as a solicitor in England, Scotland and Wales.She was a solicitor in Edinburgh and Musselburgh from 1991–98, a legal officer then Head of Membership Legal Services with UNISON in London from 1998-2005 where she undertook employment litigation including Europe's biggest equal pay case, where she won £35m in back pay for female nurses and other medical staff who had been unlawfully underpaid compared with their male colleagues.
She joined the Labour Party at the age of seventeen and is a member of the Unite and UNISON. Her great-great grandfather Alexander Sloan, was Labour MP for South Ayrshire from 1939 until his death in 1946.
Parliamentary career
Clark unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Galloway and Upper Nithsdale at the 1997 general election, a traditional Conservative and Scottish National Party marginal. She finished in third place behind the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Ian Lang who lost his seat to the SNP's Alasdair Morgan.She was elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 general election for the new seat of North Ayrshire and Arran, based substantially on the former seat of Cunninghame North whose MP Brian Wilson had retired, and the towns of Stevenston and Kilwinning from the old Cunninghame South. She had a majority of 11,296, and made her maiden speech on 7 June 2005. She was nominated for House Magazine's 'Maiden Speech of the Year'. Following the election, The Guardian named her as one of eight new MPs "to watch".
Campaigns
Socialist and anti-austerity
One of the few left-wing members of Labour's 2005 intake of MPs, she was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group and the Scottish Labour Party Campaign for Socialism. of the twenty-four members of the Campaign Group, she was the only one under the age of 50.In 2010 Clark was one of only 7 MPs to vote for Diane Abbott in the 2010 Labour Leadership Election.
In February 2013, Clark was among those who gave their support to the People's Assembly Against Austerity in a letter published by The Guardian newspaper, and was Co-Chair of the Labour Assembly Against Austerity.
Clark established a reputation as a rebel within the Parliamentary Labour Party, voting against ID cards. However, she did not consider herself to be a rebel, stating that her "views are consistent with Labour's traditions".
Clark was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to Ed Miliband 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.
Human rights and internationalism
Clark quickly established a reputation as a rebel within the Parliamentary Labour Party, voting against ID cards. However, she did not consider herself to be a rebel, stating that her "views are consistent with Labour's traditions". Clark was a Patron of the Greek Solidarity Campaign.Clark campaigned on human rights issues and was one of 95 Labour MPs who opposed replacing Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system. She supported a 'No' vote in the 2011 AV Referendum.
Clark supports the call for the recognition of the state of Palestine.
She was amongst a handful of MPs who opposed the bombing of Libya.
Clark was a member of the Committees on Arms Export Controls, and regularly called for stricter limits on arms sales.
Refugee rights
Clark has campaigned to support European Union emergency plans to ensure safety for migrants crossing the mediterranean.LGBT rights
Throughout her time an MP Clark consistently voted in favour of increased rights for LGBT+ people, including voting in favour of same-sex marriage in 2013.Constituency campaigns
On local issues, she campaigned against the contracting out of lifeline ferry services with her first Parliamentary Question being about the tendering of services and for the retraining of former workers employed at the closed Simclar factory.Trade union campaigns
She was Secretary of the Trade Union Group of Labour MPs and Chair of the CWU Group of MPs taking up many trade union, equalities, human rights, consumer and employment rights issues in Parliament. She was also a member of the GMB, UNISON, FBU, Bakers Union, NUJ, UNITE, PCS, RMT, ASLEF and TSSA Parliamentary Groups.Royal Mail sell-off
As a member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, Clark held UBS and Goldman Sachs bankers to account, questioning them over their valuation of the Royal Mail during its selloff.Scottish Deputy Leadership Campaign
Clark stood as a left candidate to be Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party in 2014 arguing for a change in direction. She lost her Commons seat of North Ayrshire and Arran at the May 2015 general election to the SNP candidate Patricia Gibson.Views
Clark is a socialist and was regarded as on the left of the Parliamentary party when she was an MP.Clark is opposed to Boris Johnson's Brexit plan, has called for a second referendum and is committed to campaigning for remain in a second referendum.
After Parliament
Jeremy Corbyn's Leadership Campaign
Clark was an early supporter of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign, a key strategist on Jeremy Corbyn's 2015 leadership campaign and appointed as his Political Secretary in November 2015, following his election as leader.Labour Party Democracy Review
In 2017 Jeremy Corbyn tasked Clark with leading a review into the democratic functioning of the Labour Party at every level including Labour Leadership Elections, the makeup of the National Executive Committee, giving Labour members greater say in party policy, building Constituency Labour Parties, local and regional Government and improving the situation of women, LGBT+, BAME, disabled and young members.Announcing the review in a message to Labour Members Clark said:
"We want our members to be at the heart of our party – to have more power – over policy, how we campaign, organise and run our party, just as we want the people of Britain to be at the heart of deciding how our communities, economy and society are organised. That is what the democracy review is about.The Democracy Review reported in September 2018, and rule changes to increase party democracy were adopted. Clark has suggested that she would like these reforms to go further and that some of her proposed reforms were watered down.