Veronica Hardstaff

Veronica Mary Hardstaff (born Veronica Mary Tutt, 23 October 1941) is a British politician, who has served as a City councillor in Sheffield and in the European Parliament. A member of the Labour Party, she is on the left of the party.

Hardstaff went to the University of Manchester where she obtained a degree in German, and then studied at the University of Cologne. She married in 1964 and had a son and daughter, but divorced in 1977, retaining her married name. Hardstaff worked as a teacher of German and French, first at High Storrs Girls' Grammar School in Sheffield, then at St Peter's Secondary Modern School.

In 1971 she was elected as a Labour Party candidate to Sheffield City Council in Walkley ward, becoming a full-time councillor; she served for seven years. In 1977 she went back to work at Knottingley High School, moving in 1979 to the Frecheville School in Sheffield, and from 1986 to the Birley School.

At the 1992 UK general election she was the Labour Party candidate for the Sheffield Hallam constituency, but finished third.

At the 1994 European Parliament election, Hardstaff was the Labour Party candidate in Lincolnshire and Humberside South. This constituency was made up of seven constituencies for the United Kingdom Parliament, of which six were held by the Conservative Party. The Labour Party considered winning this election would be taking "a prize Tory scalp". In the end, Hardstaff was elected as Member of the European Parliament with a majority of 13,745.

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