Introduction
Albert Owen (born 10 August 1959) is a Welsh Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ynys Môn. He took the seat in the 2001 election from Plaid Cymru with a margin of exactly eight hundred votes and retained the seat at the three subsequent general elections, though always with slim majorities. He is a member of the Parliamentary Welsh Affairs Select Committee, and vice-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Flag Group
Early life
Like most of Holyhead, his hometown, including the Labour MEP Glenys Kinnock, he attended the Holyhead County Comprehensive School. He left when he was sixteen for a career in the Merchant Navy, and was a seaman until 1992. In 1995, he became an advisor in the Citizens Advice Bureau, specialising in welfare rights, and from 1997 to 2001 he managed the J. E. O'Toole Centre in Holyhead – a centre dedicated to the welfare, education and leisure of unemployed workers in Holyhead. In 1999, he unsuccessfully stood for the Labour party in the Welsh Assembly elections. From the University of York he gained a BA in Politics in 1997.
In Parliament
Albert has rebelled against the Labour Party's political whip on certain occasions including notably:
- he voted against the government's Higher Education Funding Bill introducing "top up fees" – 27 January 2004
- he voted against the House of Lords amendment on foundation hospitals – 19 November 2003
- he voted for an anti-war amendment during the Iraq crisis debate – 18 March 2003 – though he was subsequently absent for a vote on requiring Security Council support for any further action
Personal life
He married Angela Margaret Magee. They have two daughters (born January 1985 and August 1986). He is a supporter of Everton Football Club. He said "I have a passion for football. I remember, as a young man in the 1970s, watching Wales play Northern Ireland at Goodison Park, my favourite football team’s stadium."