Derek Twigg

Derek Twigg was first elected as the Labour MP for Halton in the 1997 general election. Twigg began working for the Civil Service at the age of 16 and two years later was elected as the branch secretary of the trade union the Civil and Public Services Association. At the age of 21, Twigg was elected as a Cheshire County councillor and later became a Halton Borough councillor. At the 1997 general election he was elected as the Labour MP for Halton, holding the seat for the party with a majority of 23,650. In parliament, he has held a number of positions including on the Public Accounts Committee, the Defence Committee, and the Liaison Committee, as well as chairing the Statutory Instruments Committee. He has served as parliamentary private secretary to Helen Liddell, and then to Stephen Byers; as government whip; as the parliamentary under-secretary for schools, for veterans and at the Department for Transport; and as shadow health minister from 2010 to 2011. Twigg was the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on the Falkland Islands and Mountaineering, and currently serves on the Defence Committee, the Defence Sub-Committee and the Panel of Chairs.