Maureen Burke

Maureen Burke
MP
Maureen Burke MP
	Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament ; for Glasgow North East
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 4 July 2024
Preceded by	Anne McLaughlin
Majority	4,637 (13.6%)
Glasgow City Council Councillor ; for North East
	In office; 3 May 2012 – 2 September 2024
Personal details
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	John Wheatley College

Maureen Burke (born September 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North East since 2024.^[1]

She was a Glasgow City Councillor, until her resignation on September 2nd 2024. ^[2]

Political career

Since the 2012 Glasgow City Council election, she represented the North East ward on Glasgow City Council as a Councillor,^[3] and was the chair of the Glasgow City Council Operational Performance and Delivery Scrutiny Committee, until her resignation in September 2024.^[4]

She was a remunerated director of Glasgow East Women's Aid^[5] before its liquidation in March 2024.^[6]

At the 2024 United Kingdom general election, she was elected as the Labour Member of Parliament for Glasgow North East with a majority of 4,637 votes over the SNP incumbent, Anne McLaughlin.^[7]

Pre-Political Career

Burke worked as a factory operative at A. & J. Gelfer Ltd, a tie manufacturing factory in Bridgeton, Glasgow from the age of 15,^[8] before moving into administrative support for the company, which went into liquidation in December 2000.^[9] She then studied at John Wheatley College, aged 40 before working as a parliamentary assistant for former Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow Baillieston and MP for Glasgow East, Margaret Curran until the 2015 general election.

Personal life

Burke lives in the Easterhouse area of Glasgow with her husband. She has one daughter and two granddaughters.

Parliamentary Career

One of her first votes in parliament on July 23rd 2024, was a vote against ending the Two-Child Limit to benefit payments.^[10]

Controversies

Evidence to embezzlement trial

In 2018, as a sitting Councillor, Burke gave evidence at Glasgow Sheriff Court in the trial of an ex-Labour councillor, Yvonne Kucuk, for whom Burke worked as a personal assistant.^[11] The case examined the embezzlement of £8690 from local charity the 'People's Development Trust' – in 2016 Burke was in possession of a bag with £2000 in cash, a mobile phone and some paperwork given by Kucuk and was asked to return it to the trust; she had handed the bag over to the then, trust manager Michael Kennedy, who proceeded to count the money in front of Burke.^[12]

Cruising during council budget setting

In February 2024, Burke, then a Glasgow City Councillor missed a sitting of Full Council, where the City's £3 billion budget for 2024/27 was debated and set. This was as a result of Councillor Burke being on a luxury cruise. Although there was an option to call in remotely Councillor Burke refused to do this while away. ^[13] Burke, alongside all other Glasgow Labour Councillors missed the 2023 budget setting meeting, due to the Labour Group 'boycotting' the session.