36 Facts About Katy Clark

Katy Clark was Chair of Aberdeen University Labour Club, NUS Women's Officer and active in women's campaigns, anti-poll tax campaigning, and the campaigns against the Gulf and Iraq Wars.

Katy Clark received a Diploma in Legal Practice from the University of Edinburgh in 1991.

Katy Clark was active in the MSF trade union and Edinburgh and District Trades Council in the 1990s before joining the TGWU in 1998.

Katy Clark was a solicitor in private practice in Edinburgh and Musselburgh from 1991 to 1998, an Executive Member of the Scottish Council for Civil Liberties, and a legal officer, then Head of Membership Legal Services with UNISON nationally from 1998 to 2005.

Katy Clark joined the Labour Party at the age of seventeen and is a member of the Unite, GMB and UNISON trade unions.

Katy Clark unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Galloway and Upper Nithsdale at the 1997 general election, a traditional Conservative and Scottish National Party marginal.

Katy Clark 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.

Katy Clark 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.

Katy Clark had a majority of 11,296, and made her maiden speech on 7 June 2005.

Katy Clark was nominated for House magazine's 'Maiden Speech of the Year'.

In 2010, Katy Clark was one of only seven MPs to vote for left-winger Diane Abbott in the 2010 Labour Leadership Election.

Katy Clark established a reputation as a rebel within the Parliamentary Labour Party, voting against ID cards.

Katy Clark was one of 16 signatories of an open letter to party leader 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.

Katy Clark campaigned on human rights issues, and was one of 95 Labour MPs who opposed replacing Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system.

Katy Clark supported a 'No' vote in the 2011 AV Referendum.

Katy Clark supported the call for the recognition of the state of Palestine.

Katy Clark was amongst a handful of MPs who opposed the bombing of Libya, and was a member of the Committees on Arms Export Controls, regularly calling for stricter limits on arms sales.

Katy Clark campaigned to support European Union emergency plans to ensure safety for migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

Katy Clark 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.

Katy Clark was a member of the GMB, UNISON, FBU, Bakers Union, NUJ, UNITE, PCS, RMT, ASLEF and TSSA Parliamentary Groups.

Katy Clark was not elected when she stood as a left candidate to be Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party in 2014, arguing for a change in direction.

Katy Clark lost her Commons seat of North Ayrshire and Arran at the May 2015 general election to the SNP candidate Patricia Gibson.

Katy Clark was an early supporter of Jeremy Corbyn's 2015 leadership campaign.

In 2017, Corbyn tasked Katy 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.

Katy Clark has suggested that she would like these reforms to go further and that some of her proposed reforms were watered down.

Katy Clark was proposed as a candidate to stand in Rochdale prior to the 2017 general election, having previously withdrawn from consideration for election to the Leigh constituency because of accusations by local members of her being a parachute candidate.

Katy Clark was not elected when she stood as a Labour candidate on the London list at the 2019 European Parliament election.

Katy Clark was created Baroness Katy Clark of Kilwinning, of Kilwinning in the County of Ayrshire, on 3 September 2020, under which name she is a member of the House of Lords as a Labour peer.

Katy Clark was elected as a member of the Scottish Parliament for the West Scotland region for the Scottish Labour Party, having stood as its candidate for the Cunninghame North constituency at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

Katy Clark took a leave of absence in May 2021, due to being elected to the Scottish Parliament.

Katy Clark was appointed as Shadow Minister for Community Safety in the Scottish Labour shadow cabinet in May 2021.

Katy Clark was one of 5 Labour MSPs who was absent for a Scottish Parliament vote calling for the UK Government to reverse its decision to means-test the Winter Fuel Payment.

Katy Clark is a socialist and was regarded as being on the left of the Parliamentary party when she was an MP.

Katy Clark supported the eurosceptic Labour Against the Euro campaign and campaigned against an EU constitution.

Katy Clark was opposed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit plan, called for a second referendum and was committed to campaigning for "remain" if such a vote were to take place.

Katy Clark has lived in Scotland and Vauxhall, having moved to London in 1998, and has a daughter.