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Jenny Rathbone

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Jenny Rathbone
MS
Rathbone in 2021
Member of the Senedd
for Cardiff Central
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2011
Preceded byJenny Randerson
Majority7,640 (26.8%)
Islington Borough Councillor
for Highbury Ward
In office
7 May 1998 – 2 May 2002
Personal details
Born (1950-02-12) 12 February 1950 (age 74)
Political partyWelsh Labour
Children2
Websitewww.welshlabour.wales/jenny_rathbone Edit this at Wikidata

Jenny Ann Rathbone[1] (born 12 February 1950[2][3]) is a Welsh Labour politician who has been a Member of the Senedd (MS) since 2011.

Career

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She was Labour candidate for Cardiff Central at the 2010 General Election, coming second to Liberal Democrat Jenny Willott. She was previously a Labour councillor in the London Borough of Islington from 1998 to 2002.[4]

Rathbone has represented the constituency of Cardiff Central since the Senedd election of May 2011.[4] She won the seat from the Liberal Democrats by 38 votes,[5] and has retained the seat at elections in 2016 by a margin of 817 votes[6] and 2021 by a margin of 7,640 votes[7]

She voted for Jeremy Corbyn in Labour's 2015 leadership election.[8] In October 2015 Jenny Rathbone criticised the Welsh Labour government for spending millions on the M4 Relief Road. First Minister Carwyn Jones then removed Rathbone as chairperson of the All Wales European Programme Monitoring Committee. In doing so Mr Jones said: "The chair of the programme monitoring committee is an appointment made by the First Minister, because that person, as is made clear in a letter of appointment, is a representative of the (Labour) Welsh Government." He said it is made clear that the "person is required to have particular regards to act in the spirit of collective responsibility, the main principles of the ministerial code."[9]

Rathbone chairs the Equality and Social Justice Committee, and is a member of the Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister and the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee. She is a member of cross-party groups on Active travel, Clean Air, Diabetes, Digital in Wales, Gambling-related harm, Nursing and Midwifery, School food and Women's health.[10]

Controversy

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In November 2018, The Jewish Chronicle reported statements made by Rathbone 'in or around November 2017,' in response to a question surrounding increased need for security at a Synagogue in Cyncoed, Cardiff. She responded to the question by attributing the need for increased security to "the failure to come to a peace settlement around Palestine and Israel" and stated that "the fact that the Jewish synagogue in Cyncoed is, is become one of these, you know, fortress is really uncomfortable." She went on to suggest that the Jewish community's need for security at synagogues stemmed from a "siege mentality".[11][12][13] First Minister at the time Carwyn Jones described the comments as 'totally unacceptable'.[13] Both candidates in the then-ongoing 2018 Welsh Labour leadership election, Mark Drakeford and Vaughan Gething also condemned her comments. Rathbone was issued with a formal warning, suspended from the Labour group in the Assembly for 6 weeks, and was ordered to undergo anti-semitism training in February 2019.[14]

Personal life

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Jenny Rathbone was born in Liverpool. She speaks fluent French and Spanish.[15] She has two children and lives in Roath, Cardiff.

References

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  1. ^ "Election results for Cardiff Central, 5 May 2016". cardiff.moderngov.co.uk. 5 May 2016.
  2. ^ @LSCaerdydd (12 February 2018). "Happy Birthday to our amazing Cardiff Central Assembly Member @JennyRathbone from everyone at CLS 🎉 have a great day 😊" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. ^ "Jenny RATHBONE – Personal Appointments". Companies House. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b Assembly Member – Jenny Rathbone, National Assembly for Wales website. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
  5. ^ "'Politics is part of my DNA' – Jenny Rathbone, AM for Cardiff Central", GuardianCardiff, 12 May 2011. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
  6. ^ Cathy Owen (6 May 2016) "National Assembly election 2016: It's the women who won it ", Wales Online. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  7. ^ "Cardiff Central - Welsh Parliament constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  8. ^ Adam Lusher (5 May 2016) "Local elections 2016: Welsh Labour ‘in great shape’ despite ‘very unhelpful behaviour’ of ‘appalling’ Ken Livingstone", The Independent. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
  9. ^ Deans, David (14 October 2015). "Carwyn Jones defends sacking Jenny Rathbone over M4 relief road criticism". WalesOnline.
  10. ^ "Jenny Rathbone MS". senedd.wales. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  11. ^ Harpin, Lee (14 November 2018). "Labour politician accused of 'ignorance and lack of empathy' over shul security comments". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  12. ^ Harpin, Lee (14 November 2018). "Labour politician faces possible disciplinary action for shul security comments exposed by the JC". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Labour AM Jenny Rathbone sorry for Jewish comments". BBC News. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  14. ^ "Warning for Labour AM Jenny Rathbone over anti-Semitism". BBC News. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  15. ^ "The Labour Party". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
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Offices held

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Senedd
Preceded by Member of the Senedd for Cardiff Central
2011–present 		Incumbent
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