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Nicola Claire Blackwood (born 16 October 1979) is a Conservative Party politician. She was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford West and Abingdon in the 2010 election. ==Early life== Blackwood was born in 1979 in Johannesburg, but two months later her family returned to the United Kingdom and she was brought up in Oxford. As a child she suffered from asthma and was also diagnosed with ME when she was 15, which meant that she was taught at home for her GCSE and A-Level exams. From the age of fourteen she trained as a singer at Trinity College of Music, then went up to St Anne's College, Oxford, where she obtained a First class degree in music. She later graduated M.Phil. in musicology from Emmanuel College, Cambridge.〔 Before her election to parliament, Blackwood worked as a volunteer on human rights and aid projects in the Middle East, Mozambique, Rwanda and Bangladesh, and has also worked as a volunteer among the disadvantaged in Birmingham and Blackpool. ==Political career== Prior to running for office, Blackwood worked with the Conservative Party Human Rights Group which was set up to find ways for the UK to combat human rights abuses in countries like Burma and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and subsequently as an adviser to the then Shadow International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell during the 2005–10 parliament. Blackwood was chosen as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon at an open primary on 13 November 2006.〔(ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog: Oxford West and Abingdon open primary )〕 The seat had previously been held by the Conservatives between its creation in 1983 and 1997, when it was won by Dr Evan Harris for the Liberal Democrats, but he had held the seat comfortably in 2001 and 2005. Boundary changes which came into effect in 2010 were thought to have favoured the Conservatives, with some 8,000 urban voters (including many students) being moved into the Oxford East constituency and more rural voters added.〔(Tory topples Evan Harris (From The Oxford Times) )〕 Blackwood won the seat at the 2010 general election by 176 votes on a 6.9% swing to the Conservatives from the Liberal Democrats. In late 2010, Blackwood was elected to serve on the Home Affairs Select Committee and is secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development.〔(Executive ), (Apgood ), UK.〕 She is a member of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission,〔(Oxford City Conservatives — Nicola Blackwood )〕 as well as holding a position on the Council of Advisors for ZANE, a charity which seeks to support pensioners in Zimbabwe.〔(Profile of Nicola Blackwood )〕 Blackwood voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill in 2013 after intimating to students that she would support the measure, for which she was criticised by Oxford University Student Union. Blackwood said she had voted against the final draft of the Bill because she was not satisfied the protections of religious freedoms were sufficient. She has also been criticized by student activists for her support of fox-hunting and her wish to have the ban on fox-hunting repealed. Blackwood criticised the handling of Work Capability Assessments by ATOS after an Oxfordshire man starved to death in 2013 after his Incapacity Benefit was wrongly stopped, and later said that she had spoken personally "on numerous occasions" with her colleague Mark Harper at the Department of Work and Pensions to complain about the length of time it has taken the DWP to finalise the report into his death". At the 2015 general election Blackwood retained her seat with an increased majority of 9,582.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000874 )〕 Following the announcement of the result, she said that she will "continue to fight for A34 investment, affordable housing and flood defences".〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2015-05-08/oxford-west-abingdon-nicola-blackwood-i-will-continue-to-fight-for-a34-investment-affordable-housing-and-flood-defences/ )〕 On 19 June 2015, she was announced as having been elected to the chairmanship of the Science & Technology Select Committee. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nicola Blackwood」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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