Parliamentary career
Sheerman unsuccessfully contested Taunton at the October 1974 election. He became the MP for Huddersfield East from 1979 to 1983 and for Huddersfield since the 1983 general election, holding the seat since then, with a majority as low as 3,955 in 1983 and as high as 15,848 at the 1997 general election. At the most recent general election, in 2019, Sheerman's majority fell to 4,937 with a swing of 7.8% to the Conservatives, in line with many other seats in Yorkshire.
As the shadow Employment and Training minister from 1983 to 1988, he was the opposition spokesperson for post-16 education in both the education and employment teams. He served as a shadow Home Affairs minister from 1988 to 1992, focusing on police, prisons and probation as the deputy to Roy Hattersley, the Shadow Home Secretary. Following John Smith's election as Labour leader, Sheerman served as the shadow Disabled People's Rights minister from 1992 to 1994. [1] [2]
He chaired the House of Commons Education and Skills select committee from 2001 to 2007, and remained chair of the renamed Children, Schools and Families Select Committee from 2007 to 2010. Under his chairmanship, the committee was often critical of government policy. Sheerman warned the government not to "lose their nerve" over reforming secondary education exam system back in 2005, [3] and in 2006 said it was "naive" to allocate local school places through parental choice, with lottery selection being the best way to avoid "bloody awful" schools existing as a side effect of parents pushing for their children to study elsewhere. [4] During Sheerman's chairmanship, the select committee produced reports on subjects such as home education, education outside the classroom, and young people not in education employment or training (NEETs).
He is Chair of the Labour Forum for Criminal Justice and of the Cross-Party Advisory Group on Preparation for European Monetary Union. Outside parliament, he is Chair of the National Educational Research and Development Trust, and a trustee of the National Children's Centre. His political interests are listed as trade, industry, finance, further education, education, economy, the European Union, South America and the United States.
In June 2009, Sheerman called for a secret ballot of the Parliamentary Labour Party on whether Gordon Brown should continue in office as prime minister. This followed widespread criticism of Brown's performance and the resignation of Cabinet member James Purnell. Sheerman later reassured his local party chairman that he had not directly called for Brown's resignation. [5]
Sheerman called for a London catering company to employ "English workers" in a Twitter exchange on 23 April 2012. [6] The comments reached the national press. In response, Sheerman said the objection to him speaking out was "pernicious political correctness". [7]
He is founder and chairman of Policy Connect, a cross-party, not-for-profit based in London, where he regularly chairs seminar events and research inquiries. Sheerman is also chair and co-chair of a number of official All-Party Parliamentary Groups, including the All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group, the All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group, and the Bullying All-Party Group. Since 2012, He has led the Schools to Work Commission, the Labour Party's policy review on the transition from education to employment. [8]
In June 2015, Sheerman caused controversy when he argued that lowering the voting age to 16, by reducing childhood, might raise the risk of sexual abuse. [9]
On 5 December 2021, Sheerman announced his intention to stand down at the next election; at the time of the announcement he was the longest-serving Labour MP. [10]
