Fleur Anderson MP
Biography
Fleur Anderson was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office on 9 July 2024. She was elected as the MP for Putney in 2019, re-elected in July 2024, and previously served as Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland from September 2023 to July 2024. As Shadow Minister, Fleur regularly visited Northern Ireland and engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, including businesses, trade unions, charities and community groups.
Fleur has won awards for her environmental campaigning on single use plastic and banning plastic in wet wipes and on protecting green spaces and was on the Environment Bill Committee. She was on the Education Select Committee in 2020, and was formerly Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Charities and Volunteering, co-Chair of the APPG on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and co-Chair of the APPG on the Prevention of Genocide.
Fleur worked in international development for Christian Aid, CAFOD, Oxfam and WaterAid from 1994-2016. She worked on various environmental and poverty campaigns, including as an aid worker during the Bosnian war and living in Kenya from 2006-2009. She was a trustee of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, co-founder of the Trade Justice Movement and was Global Head of Advocacy for Water Aid, working with grassroots campaigners, governments and at the UN on water, sanitation and hygiene campaigns to reduce poverty.
Immediately before being elected she ran a community centre in Battersea, London, from 2016-2019. She ran services for older people, young people and people from a refugee background. She was elected as a Wandsworth Borough Councillor for 7 years, and led campaigns on active travel and special education needs services, and she is a co-founder of Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees.
Personal Life
Fleur got involved in politics through campaigning for international justice and locally to save her local children’s centre. Fleur’s grandparents are from Northern Ireland, and outside of work, Fleur has four children and a baby granddaughter.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State will:
- Support the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in engagement with the NI Executive (focusing on the Department of Infrastructure, the Department for Communities, the Department of Health and the Department of Education)
- Represent the Secretary of State in public affairs
- Lead on public service transformation (including support for the growth and impact of integrated education)
- Conduct external affairs (particularly helping to build relationships across sectors and communities to inform and test UKG policy and practice),
- Lead on other voices and reconciliation
- Support the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on national security, legacy, economic growth and political stability.
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State will also help to lead the NIO’s parliamentary activity in the Commons.