Neena Gill

Neena Gill, Template:Post-nominals is a British Labour Party politician. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands first from 1999 to 2009, and then from 2014 to 2020.

Early life and career

Gill was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India.<ref name=who/> She emigrated to the UK with her family when she was ten years old. Her father was a businessman.<ref name=politico>Template:Cite web</ref> Gill's first job was working in a library at the age of 16.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She graduated with a bachelor's degree in social studies from Liverpool John Moores University in 1979.<ref name=FT/> She was vice president of the students union.<ref name=CBE/> Gill later gained a postgraduate professional qualification from the Chartered Institute of Housing in 1984 and in 1996, she completed the senior executive programme at the London Business School.<ref name=FT/>

After graduation, Gill became a trainee accountant but only worked for six weeks before leaving to become a housing officer at Ealing London Borough Council.<ref name=CBE/> Aged 29, Gill became the chief executive of ASRA Group, making her the first female, first non-white and youngest chief executive of a UK housing association.<ref name=politico/><ref name=CBE/> She then worked as the chief executive of Newlon Housing Group.<ref name=FT/>

Political career

Prior to Labour's electoral success in 1997, Gill worked with members of Labour's shadow cabinet to help develop the party's social policy.<ref name=politico/> In 1999, she was elected as the first female Asian MEP in the European Parliament.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Representing the West Midlands between 1999 and 2009, Gill held various positions, including President of the Delegation for Relations with India and President of the Delegation for Relations with South Asia and SAARC countries. She was also a member of The Legal Affairs Committee and of the Budgets Committee.

Gill was unsuccessful in her bid to be re-elected for a third term as MEP in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During her time outside of parliament, she worked as the vice president for corporate affairs (Europe and Asia Pacific) for software company SAS.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Neena Gill.jpg

Gill in 2017 discussing Brexit and India

In 2014, she was re-elected as one of two Labour MEPs (the other being Siôn Simon) for the West Midlands.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During this term, she was a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, special committee on tax rulings, financial crimes, tax evasion and avoidance, and part of the delegation for relations with India and the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was particularly active on financial regulation and was the rapporteur for the 2015 European Money Market Funds (MMF) Regulation.<ref name=FT>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2017, Gill was one of two UK winners (the other being Conservative MP Priti Patel) of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honour given to NRIs by the Indian government.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the same year, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In July 2018, Gill became an honorary fellow of Liverpool John Moores University.<ref name=CBE>Template:Cite web</ref>

She was re-elected in the 2019 European parliamentary election as the sole Labour MEP for the West Midlands.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gill remained a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. In September 2019, Gill joined the delegation for relations with Japan as Chair and the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly as Vice-Chair and S&D Co-ordinator.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024, she was selected as the Labour Party candidate in the Bromsgrove constituency at the 2024 general election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She came second in the contest, receiving 26.8% of the vote share.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

She married Dr. John Towner, an environmental consultant, in 1982 and they have one son. They divorced in 2009.<ref name=who>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=politico/>

External links

• Profile at European Parliament website