This week we are delighted to shine the spotlight on Rachel Maclean MP for Redditch in Worcestershire.
A Midlands girl, Rachel went to the local comprehensive school and is a working Mum with four grown up children and two rescue dogs, Phoebe and Herbie.
Rachel is a Midlands girl through and through, and has spent most of her life in the region. She has a background in business and together with her husband David, they set up Birmingham based Packt Publishing, now the UK’s largest IT and software content publisher.
Like many Tories Rachel loves to give back. She has worked for an educational charity she founded, Skilled and Ready, as well as HR tech platform Air which was selected to take part in the Entrepreneurial Spark programme in Birmingham.
Rachel has also been a voluntary worker and fundraiser for the National Childbirth Trust as a Sunday School Teacher. She spent 15 years as a Beaver, Cub, Scout Leader and Assistant District Commissioner for Cubs – doing the hard graft we volunteers know all too well. She also helped set up the LoveBrum charity supporting grassroots volunteer-led charities that don’t receive government funding.
Between 2018 and 2019, Rachel held a number of junior ministerial positions, including as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, Women and Equalities and the Treasury.
After being re-elected in December 2019 with 63% of the vote, she was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Transport in 2020. After a government reshuffle, Rachel was then appointed as Minister for Safeguarding in the Home Office.
In September 2022, Rachel was then promoted to Minister of State in the Ministry of Justice as Minister of State for Victims and Vulnerability. She is now Vice Chair of the Conservative Party with responsibility for candidates.
Rachel has also just been appointed Minister of State for Housing and Planning.
But what has she done for Redditch?
Her first priority as the Member of Parliament for Redditch, where she lives with her family, is the Alexandra Hospital. Rachel has lobbied tirelessly for the Alex to receive more investment.
Rachel has continued to campaign to see maternity and children’s services returned to the Alex. The people of Redditch have never and will never accept that these services have been removed, and Rachel continues the fight to get these services back where they belong. Rachel has had early signs of success with the Garden Suite Chemotherapy Service.
She has:
- Secured the return of the Garden Suite chemotherapy service to the Alexandra Hospital. Local health bosses investigated keeping this service in Kidderminster following its temporary relocation during the pandemic.
- Secured state-of-the-art robot-assisted surgery at the Alexandra Hospital. After fundraisers reached the total they were told needed to be raised, they were then told that robot-assisted surgery at the Alex would likely not happen. Rachel got involved, lobbied local health bosses and now state-of-the-art robot-assisted surgery is now being performed at the Alex.
- Achieved a £16.6 million Town Deal for Redditch – one of the single largest government investments in Redditch since it became a New Town.
- Working with local councillors, Rachel got speed limits reduced in Hanbury. This is something residents had been calling for long before Rachel was elected and she has delivered what they wanted.
- Rachel and menopause campaigners successfully got the Government to put menopause on the secondary school curriculum. It’s not being taught in schools for the first time.
Redditch is a thriving New Town in North Worcestershire. It enjoys nearby Bordesley Abbey, a 12th-century Cistercian abbey. And its history lies in fine metal work. It is home to Forge Mill Needle Museum and at one point, pore industrialisation, the town produced 90% of our supply of needles – vital for clothing and fishing. But it will perhaps be best known as the place that Harry Styles was born.
Rachel is a passionate believer in and campaigner for Redditch. We asked her for a quote for the piece and she said:
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Conservative Post readers for standing up for their Conservative values and for sharing news of the great work this Conservative Government is doing.”
Follow MP Rachel Maclean on Twitter here.
By Steven Barrett, Councillor for Tyles Green & Loudwater, BUCKS Unitary Council.
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