HC Leeds’ Sabrina Poole talks to Rebecca Taylor, our local Liberal Democrat MEP and Leeds Uni Alumni, about how she got into politics.
Firstly, tell us a bit about what you do.
I’m a Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber. Basically I have a job of two halves: I speak in Parliament and I sit on two committees – one of which is Legal Affairs and the other is the Department of Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Then, the other half of the job is all the work I do in the region, for example today I talked to some Lib Dem colleagues in Sheffield about recycling issues. It’s very very varied – I find myself doing things I never would have expected!
A bit of Googling told us that you studied at Leeds, doing a BA in Japanese and Management. Did you have any career in mind when choosing this?
No, I don’t think I had a career in mind as such, but I wanted to do a business and language combination degree. I studied French, German and Business Studies at A Level so I was keen to carry on those interests. Though, when I decided that I wanted to do Japanese I’m not sure if I knew what I was letting myself in for!
Were you politically active whilst at University or a member of any societies?
I wasn’t politically active at University, but I was a member of the Tenpin Bowling Club! I come from a political family and my parents have always been politically active, my grandparents as well. I would help them out as a child and a teenager but I think, when I was a student, I didn’t want to be like my parents! It was after University that I really became active on my own accord.
What was it that made you active?
I moved to London after I graduated (because when you can speak Japanese that’s where the jobs are) but unfortunately 95% were in finance and manufacturing. Finance really did not appeal to me, so I worked for a few manufacturers but that also wasn’t ‘my thing’. Then I went to Brussels randomly for a weekend and thought ‘This is a nice place, I think I’ll move here!’ – as you do when you’re 23. There, I ended up working for a pharmaceutical trade association, which is how I got into the health policy line of work.
What took this interest to a European level?
I was living in Brussels! I got involved with the local Lib Dem party and their events, and got persuaded to go on to the committee. I worked quite a lot with the Parliament in lobbying for 4 years, after my job with the pharmaceutical association. So I was in that world as a representative of the health profession, eventually going to conferences in the UK and helping people with election campaigns. My Mum was a candidate in the general election in 2005 so I came home for two weeks and worked on her campaign. It was at that time that I thought ‘maybe I should stand in the next European election’ as there wasn’t going to be another general election for some time. Also I realised that that interested me more and that I knew more about it. I got myself approved in 2007, put myself forward for the selection and ended up first on the list – not bad for a first try!
What do you consider to be your biggest achievement whilst being an MEP?
I’ve only been an MEP for 6 months! So far I would say that it’s a joint achievement with colleagues – we were working on the ‘Accounting and Transparency Directive’, which sounds quite boring, but part of it is about the financial reporting of multinational companies, specifically payments to governments. In developing countries this is a big issue. Working with several colleagues, Liberal and Liberal Democrat MEPs, we got a very good proposal agreed at Parliament level. Basically, it will require all multinational companies to disclose payments to governments on a global scale. That’s any payments over € 80,000 . It may not seem a lot but in a developing country, for example, that could build schools.
Even in 2012, politics is sometimes still referred to as a ‘man’s world’. What do you think of this?
In the European Parliament I would say it’s a little bit different because I can get people saying, not so much that I’m a woman but: ‘oh, you’re very young to be an MEP.’ And there are MEPs that are 10 years younger than me! Part of it is that I look younger than I am. Within my group we are 86 MEPs and 10 are under 40, 5 are women. So it is, but I would say at a European level, because you get such a mix of countries like the Scandinavian countries – where the female dissipation in politics is much higher – there are no disadvantages to being female.
And finally, do you have any advice for female students wanting to go into the world of politics?
Follow your heart! But also be prepared to do a lot of hard work. Sometimes you can work really hard in politics and not get anywhere – the efforts and achievements are not always related. The problem with Westminister, and to some extent the European Parliament, is combining travel with a young family. A lot of MEPs with families of young children move them to Brussels, because otherwise family life can be quite tough. With Westminister the hours are also not very family friendly. However, this is also why some men find politics hard work, not just women. Some people actually like their families and want to spend time with them!
Image Sources:
1. http://libdemmeps.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Rebecca-Taylor.jpeg