Tony McWalter

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Tony McWalter (born 20 March 1945) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was Labour Party and Co-operative Member of Parliament for Hemel Hempstead between 1997 and 2005. He is a former philosophy lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield.

McWalter won the seat from Robert Jones (Conservative) in 1997 and held it in 2001, and was narrowly defeated by Mike Penning, (Conservative) in 2005.

Early in his Westminster career, McWalter was one of a number of Labour MPs who petitioned for a planned cut in single-parents benefits, scheduled by the previous Conservative administration, to be cancelled before it came into effect. The cancellation of the cut was announced but then later revoked. McWalter abstained on the first vote in the Commons on implementing the cut but later was brought back onboard with the Government line and was put forward by the government to defend the policy on TV.