Roberta Blackman-Woods

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Dr Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Born 16 August 1957, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. She has been Member of Parliament for the City of Durham constituency since May 2005.

By training a sociologist with expertise in housing, prior to her election she was an Associate Dean in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Northumbria. Roberta had previously been Chair of the City of Durham Constituency Labour Party and before that in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend. She has also served as a Councillor on Oxford and Newcastle City Councils.

Elected with a 3,274 majority over the Liberal Democrat candidate, Carol Woods, Roberta Blackman-Woods made her maiden speech to the House of Commons on 24 May 2005, in which she referred to the work of her predecessor Gerry Steinberg, as well as referring at length to the importance to Durham of the Durham Cathedral, University of Durham and the historic legacy of mining within the area. She also quoted Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island: "Why, it's wonderful - a perfect little city... If you have never been to Durham, go there at once. Take my car. It's wonderful."

Roberta is a member of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and was a member of the Education and Skills Select Committee for a year from 2005. In 2006 she became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Hilary Armstrong.