Vicky Ford was elected a Member of the European Parliament in 2009.She is the leading Conservative MEP for the East of England and is Chairman of the European Parliament Internal Market and Consumer Affairs Committee. She is also the UK Conservative Party spokesman on the Internal Market and Consumer Affairs.
From 2009-2014 Vicky was a member of the European Parliament Industry, Research and Energy Committee and the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee. She was UK Conservative Party Spokesman on Economic and Monetary Affairs from 2009-2011 and on Industry and Research from 2011-2014.
Vicky was the Parliament rapporteur on the budgetary framework directive, which seeks to increase transparency and accountability of public spending. In addition, she was also the rapporteur on the safety of offshore gas and the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership. She was a lead negotiator on the Horizon 2020 program for research and development and for reforms to banking regulation.
Vicky has worked as shadow rapporteur for the European Conservatives and Reformist Group (ECR) on energy efficiency legislation and all research funding matters, as well as bank capital requirements, deposit guarantee schemes and residential mortgages. She campaigns to reduce bureaucracy for business, to reduce the EU budget and to end the Strasbourg two seat circus.
Vicky was born and grew up in Northern Ireland. Her parents were both English doctors. As a child she joined her mother campaigning with the peace movement and her father stood in local elections in an area now dominated by Sinn Fein. She attended primary school in Northern Ireland, but following her father's death she went to secondary school in England. Vicky then went onto read Maths and Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where she met her husband, who is a cancer consultant at Addenbrookes Hospital. They have three children.
Vicky is a passionate supporter of British industry and regularly meets companies in the East of England. She stood as the Conservative candidate in Birmingham Northfield at the 2005 general election. In 2006 she was elected as a District Councillor for the Balsham Ward in Cambridgeshire and served as cabinet member responsible for finance. She was the deputy chairman of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire Conservatives.
Prior to becoming involved in politics, Vicky was a managing director of a major international bank. Most of her 14-year career in banking from 1989 to 2003 was with JP Morgan. She has been involved in raising money for infrastructure, including roads, railways, telecommunications and electricity networks across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She worked with many of Europe's largest companies as well as advising national governments and central banks.
Vicky is widely known and liked for her energetic and lively approach to everything she gets involved in. Her hobbies include fly fishing, gardening and riding.She plays the piano and clarinet as well as singing in a local choir.
