Parliamentary Career

Theresa Villiers asking a PMQ

Theresa Villiers started out as a Member of the European Parliament in 1999 and joined the Westminster ranks in 2005, holding a number of positions in opposition and in Government. Here's an overview of her career so far:

  • MEP for London, 1999 - 2005
  • Deputy Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, 2001 - 2002
  • MP for Chipping Barnet 2025 - 2024 (re-elected 2010, 2015, 2017 & 2019)
  • Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, 2005 - 2007
  • Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, 2007 - 2010
  • Minister for Transport, 2010 - 2012
  • Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 2012 - 2016
  • Secretary of State for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs - 2019 - 2020
  • Member of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament - 2020 - 2024

You can read Theresa's final contributions in Parliament below.

Rail Infrastructure (Train Operating Companies) | Commons debates

I warmly welcome efforts to create greater integration between those who run the tracks and those who run the trains, but will my right hon. Friend acknowledge that a one-size-fits-all model would not be the right one, because certain lines are so heavily used by diverse operators that such a degree of integration would be difficult to achieve?

New Southgate Cemetery [Lords] | Commons debates

I rise to urge the House to support this Bill to give new powers to the owners of New Southgate cemetery in my constituency. As things stand, within 10 years we will run out of burial space there, or we will come close to doing so. There is now a widely held view that the only way in which the public can continue to have affordable, accessible cemeteries is if we make better use of existing burial space. As we have heard, public burial authorities in London already have some powers to lift and deepen existing graves that were last used 75 years ago, in order to create more space. The Bill would simply give to New Southgate cemetery broadly the same rights as those already afforded by Parliament to public burial authorities in London.

New Southgate Cemetery [Lords] | Commons debates

One of the reasons I support this Bill is that using our existing burial space more efficiently will relieve the pressure to create new cemeteries elsewhere in my constituency—something that is likely to encroach on green-belt land, substantially detracting from and damaging the local environment.