Natascha Engel - Parliament

Parliament

When Select Committees were established in the new Parliament, Engel was named to the Work and Pensions Select Committee. She made her maiden speech on 20 October 2005, the last of the incoming Labour MPs to do so, paying tribute to her predecessor Harry Barnes for his work. In the speech Engel concentrated on constituency affairs, supporting devolution of power and resources to local communities and highlighting examples in Staveley and Grassmoor. She referred to socialism as "the simple idea that if someone helps their neighbour, their neighbour will help them".

In 2006, Engel's name was included on a list of 15 up and coming Labour MPs compiled for News Corporation. Engel became Secretary of the All-Party Media Literacy Group in 2006. She backed Peter Hain for the Labour Party deputy leadership in the 2007 election, and served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Hain from July 2007 until Hain resigned from the Government in January 2008. Engel left the Work and Pensions Committee in November 2007. She performed the same role for Liam Byrne from October 2008, transferring to work for John Denham from January 2009. Engel was appointed to the Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons when it was set up in July 2009. She did not agree with the committee's report, which contained proposals for the creation of a committee to schedule backbench business, the establishment of a committee to set the Commons' agenda and the election of select committee chairs by secret ballot. She felt those three changes would transfer power 'from one elite—in this case, the Executive—and handing it to another—a group of senior Back Benchers'. She also said they would be 'a step in the wrong direction' because they were small changes that would risk standing in the way of more sweeping reforms as MPs would essentially be telling themselves and the public 'we've done, we will move on'. Engel drafted a minority report that proposed restarting the committee's work after the 2010 election, when it would have more time to investigate and deliberate.

On 15 June 2010, the House of Commons voted to create a Backbench Business Committee, and one week later, Engel defeated Sir Alan Haselhurst 202 to 173 in a secret ballot of MPs to become its first chair. On 6 July 2011 she was named "Backbencher of the Year" for her work with the committee. Interviewed in the April 2012 edition of Total Politics, Engel expressed genuine surprise at her status -she was pictured alongside that of the Coalition leaders and the Speaker in an exhibition on democracy. Her role is to allocate roughly 1 day per week parliamentary debating time between competing backbenchers by a a processed described by Quentin Letts as akin to Dragons' Den. Engel has expressed pride in the committee which is "a powerful check on the executive". Debates are allowed on any topic and unless they are against party policy, the whips don't interfere. The most contentious debate was the EU referendum debate held on 24 October 2011. She is producing an ‘end-of-term’ report on the performance of the committee and recommendations for improvement -a review is required as part of recommendations of the Wright Committee. Engel was re-elected, unopposed, to the chair of the committee May 2012.