Rachel Squire MP
Dunfermline and West Fife 1992– 2006

Rachel Anne Squire was the first woman Member of Parliament to represent a Fife seat. She was a caring, down-to-earth, resolute woman of integrity whose career at Westminster was dominated by two issues - Rosyth Dockyard and the Coal Industry.

Rachel described the Tory government decision to privatise the dockyard as “disastrous, costly and politically motivated.”

She was a member of the Defence Select Committee and also chaired the Labour Party Parliamentary Defence Committee. She fought tirelessly for defence work for Rosyth. John Reid, then Secretary of State for Defence, quipped that every time he passed Rachel in the House of Commons she stopped him to ask about the Dockyard.

She was devastated when flooding closed the Longannet pit and was dedicated to helping the former miners in her constituency, campaigning for a funding package to provide compensation for the miners and their families.

When the Labour Government introduced the compensation scheme Rachel became a member of the Monitoring Committee. She gave an enormous commitment to this work and the scheme delivered more rapidly in Scotland than in other UK coalfields.

Rachel was also an international politician and represented the UK Parliament on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Shortly before her death Rachel was honoured by the Italian President who awarded her the Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarieta’ Italiana.

Early in her parliamentary career Rachel had a 14-hour operation to remove a tumour from the base of her brain. It proved non-malignant, but she always knew that might recur. And so it proved, in October 2004 Rachel was told that the tumour had returned. Again she went through major surgery and was told in January 2005 that the tumour had been successfully removed but this was not the case and Rachel died on 5 January 2006. Gordon Brown described her as a wonderful MP and a caring friend. Tributes were made by all political parties to Rachel.

She was an excellent MP and a very fine person.

The above article is the one in the Labour History publication. Below is the article that was added to the website soon after Rachel's death.

Rachel Squire, the former Dunfermline and West Fife MP died in January 2006 after a long illness.

Gordon Brown MP, whose constituency has neighboured Rachel’s since she joined parliament in 1992, said: “Rachel Squire was a wonderful MP and a caring friend and colleague: a great servant to the people she represented and a woman who showed quiet concern and compassion for others, even amidst her own suffering. Even when she knew she was dying, her first thoughts were for others in need.

“Born in Surrey, educated at Durham, she trained as a social worker in Birmingham before coming to Scotland. She stayed in Fife for the last 15 years, and quickly became a vital part of our community. Despite being struck down by brain tumours diagnosed on three occasions, her service to Dunfermline over two decades and her dedication to our people, our dockyards, our mining communities, and our hospital was remarkable, and will never be forgotten.

“Our condolences go to her family, particularly her husband Allan, who was a tower of strength to her and cared for her every day of her illness. She will be missed by all who relied on her advice, support and help, and she will be mourned throughout the whole of Fife and Scotland.”

Rachel Squire, aged 51, had suffered brain tumours in the past and experienced a stroke in June, shortly after being returned as Dunfermline and West Fife MP with an 11,562 majority. Born in Carshalton, Surrey, in 1954, Rachel studied Anthropology at the University of Durham before training as a social worker at Birmingham University. The former NUPE officer joined the Labour Party in 1982. She acted as an assistant agent to former MP Tam Dalyell in 1987 and as agent to David Martin MEP during the 1989 European elections. She stood for parliament for the first time in 1992 and was elected with a majority of more than 7,000 votes.

In parliament she gained a reputation as a hard-working constituency MP who tirelessly campaigned on local issues, serving as Parliamentary Private Secretary to both Stephen Byers and Estelle Morris. A champion for the disabled, she was a patron of the charity Brain Tumour Action. During the last parliament she pioneered a Private Members’ Bill on visual impairment that removed barriers to visually impaired people’s access to books and other reading materials created by copyright law.

She was a Chair of the Scottish Policy Forum, a member of Unison, WEA, Scottish Low Pay Unit, Amnesty International and the Unemployment Unit. In parliament she served on the Modernisation Committee (1997 - 1998), the Procedure and the European Legislation Select Committees (1992 - 1997), the Defence Select Committee. She was also a Member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and active in the Graduate Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme and the Industry and Parliament Trust Scheme.