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Anne Begg MP
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Member of Parliament
for Aberdeen South |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1 May 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Raymond Robertson |
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| Majority | 1,348 (3.2%) |
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| Born | 6 December 1955 |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | University of Aberdeen |
Anne Begg (b. 6 December 1955 in Brechin, Angus) is a British politician and is the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Aberdeen South.[1]
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Begg was educated at the Damacre Primary School in Brechin; Brechin High School on Duke Street (both also attended by Sir Robert Watson-Watt), and the University of Aberdeen where she earned an MA in History and Politics.[2][3] From Aberdeen College of Education (merged with the Dundee College of Education in 1987 to become the Northern College of Education then became the Faculty of Education of the University of Aberdeen in December 2001), she gained a Secondary Teaching Certificate in 1978.
From 1978 she taught history and English at the Webster's High School in Kirriemuir.[3] She joined the Labour Party in 1983.[4] In 1988 she became the principal teacher of English at the Arbroath Academy.[3] In the same year she won the Disabled Scot of the Year Award.[2] Aberdeen South like many seats fell to Labour in their landslide victory at the 1997 general election. She defeated the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Scottish Office Raymond Robertson.[5] In 2001, she became the first Labour MP to retain the Aberdeen South seat.
Begg has been in a wheelchair for many years as she lives with the degenerative Gaucher's disease.[3] She was the first full-time user of a wheelchair elected to the House of Commons.[6] She made her maiden speech on 21 May 1997.[7] She currently Chair of the All Party Endometriosis Group and the Secretary of the All-Party BBC Group. She is also a member of the House of Commons Chairmen’s Panel, the Work and Pensions Select Committee, and the Oil and Gas Industry Group.[3]
Anne Begg voted in favour of a bill that banned smoking in restaurants in April 2003.[8] In December 2004 and October 2005, she voted in favour of a bill enabling the British national identity card.[9][10] She voted in favour of allowing unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples to adopt,[11] and in favour of the Civil Partnership Bill.[12] In March 2002, she voted to ban the hunting of wild mammals with dogs.[13] She voted in favour of the NHS Foundation Trust proposal[14] and against the replacement of the Trident system.[15]
She voted in favour of adding clauses to a bill that allow the Secretary of State to detain indefinitely, pending deportation, anyone he suspects is a terrorist, even if the law forbids that person's deportation from ever taking place.[16] She voted against only allowing people detained at a police station to be fingerprinted and searched for an identifying birthmark if it is in connection with a terrorism investigation. [17]
In March 2003, she voted against the declaration of war against Iraq.[18] In June 2003, she voted against a motion that would have recalled the Prime Minister's assertion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that could be used at 45 minutes' notice, and launching an independent inquiry into the intelligence received and the decisions that were based on it.[19] In June 2007, she voted against a motion calling for an independent inquiry by a committee of Privy Counsellors into the Iraq War.[20]
Anne Begg has written to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond requesting a change to the house buying system in Scotland.[21] She criticized plans to close an Aberdeen school 18 months after it had been saved, saying they were "closing the school by stealth."[22]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Raymond Robertson |
Member of Parliament for Aberdeen South 1997 – present |
Incumbent |
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