Leslie Huckfield has an Oxford PPE first degree, a Master’s degree with Distinction in Urban and Regional Planning from Heriot Watt and a PhD in Cooperatives and Social Enterprise from Glasgow Caledonian University, where he has been a lecturer and researcher since 2016. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

He was a Director of SENSCOT (Social Enterprise Network Scotland) from 2009 till 2020 and until March 2022 was a Director of the Sheffield Cooperative Development Group. Throughout 2018 and 2019 he was a member of Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP’s Implementation Group for doubling the size of the cooperative economy, after contributing to the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet’s “Alternative Models of Ownership” Report in 2017.

Political Background

He was MP for Nuneaton and Bedworth in the West Midlands until May 1983. After the Boundary Commissioners split his constituency, he was defeated by Tony Blair in the Selection Conference to become Labour MP for Sedgefield in May 1983.

In 1983, he ran the Campaign to Protect and Improve Transport in London, working closely with Ken Livingstone and John McDonnell, which was funded by the Greater London Council.

He was elected as Member of the European Parliament for Merseyside East from 1984 till 1989, becoming Vice Chair of the Parliament’s Transport Committee.

He was a member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee from 1978 till 1982, where he represented cooperatives and socialist societies. In 1980, he chaired the NEC’s Working Party on Cooperatives, which produced the Party’s statement on cooperatives for Labour’s 1983 General Election Manifesto, including recommending legislation similar to the “Macora Law” in Italy which supports workers to form cooperatives. This was carried forward to Labour’s 2017 and 2019 Election Manifestos.

Workers’ Cooperatives

Alongside his EU experience, he has a strong background in the third sector, including cooperatives and social enterprises. He was joint leader of the occupation of the Triumph Motorcycle factory in Meriden in 1973, when workers formed a workers’ cooperative, and he helped the Taunton Shirt Cooperative in 1981. He was a member of the London Cooperative Society Political Committee from 1978 till 1993.

European Funding

From 1989 till 1992 he was External Funding Manager for St Helens College, Merseyside and in 1992 founded the Merseyside Colleges’ European Group, with an office in Liverpool’s Albert Dock, to secure EU funding for Merseyside’s nine FE and Sixth Form Colleges, including negotiations with the Government Office for Merseyside and European Commission in Brussels. From 1995 till 1997 he was Principal Manager External Funding for Wirral Metropolitan College, Birkenhead. In 1997 he set up Leslie Huckfield Research.

From September 1997 in the West Midlands he worked on EU funding for Wolverhampton College, Tamworth and Lichfield Colleges and the Association of Colleges. Following a prominent role in the West Midlands Post 1992 Funding Group, which agreed the eligibility coverage of the region’s Objective 2 area with the European Commission and Government Office for the West Midlands, in 2003, he became part of the Advantage West Midlands Regional Development Agency Task Force on EU Funding. In 2003 he also completed re writing of the West Midlands EU Objective 3 ESF Regional Development Plan for the Government Office of the West Midlands.

Baltics and Eastern Europe

He moved to Scotland in 2004 and worked on EU funded projects in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, including a Report for the British Embassy in Riga, Latvia and British Council in Vilnius, Lithuania on pre EU accession funding on, esepcially for vocational training.

On behalf of the Ministry of Finance of the Lithuanian Government and BDO Lithuania, from January till March 2004 he held extensive discussions and visited appropriate EU Commission Directorates in Brussels to produce a report for upgrading of the Mazeikia Power Station under the EU’s Cohesion Fund to use more oil from a nearby oil refinery – a €50mn project involving €350mn public loan guarantees.

In 2004, he also assisted the Ministry of Education and Science in Lithuania with the development of a Vocational Qualifications framework.

In 2004 and 2005 he developed ESF and ERDF Projects for the Polish Chamber of Commerce in Poznan, the Municipality of Stalowa Wola, Podkarpackie Voivodship and the Institute of Theology, Sandomierz, part of the University of Lublin, Poland for EU funded infrastructure to attract more companies and jobs.

He also produced projects using the EU Development Fund for PDVSA, the state owned oil company of Venezuela.

From 2002 till 2005 he was a member of the British Consultants and Construction Bureau (now called British Expertise), representing Independent Consultants on the BCCB Board. To gain more funding and information knowledge, in April and May 2003 with BCCB he visited the World Bank, International Monetary Fund  and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Washington DC and New York.

Resulting from this, he developed Caribbean Education and Training Projects for City College, Birmingham, leading a group of UK Colleges. including  submissions to IADB, UNDP and European Commission

In 2005 he developed European Development Fund (EDF) Projects for the President’s Office, Ghana

For liaison with project partners, he was a regular visitor to appropriate Directorates General of the European Union Commission in Brussels.

Community Development

Since 2004 he worked on third sector, FE and HE projects in Scotland. In 2008 he set up the Plean Community Development Trust in Stirling’s Eastern Villages. In 2011 and 2012 he prepared funding for Start Up Stirling to develop Stirling’s Food Bank. In 2015 and 2016 he delivered a series of 11 EU Funding Masterclass across Scotland, attended by 500 representatives from Scotland’s social enterprises, community organisations and higher education representatives.

In March 2017 he delivered a presentation on his work to the Labour Resource Action Network (LRAN) at Howard University, Washington DC and delivered seminars at University of Montreal in Quebec (UQAM) CRISES Conferences in 2017 and 2021.

In 2020 he co wrote the Response to Scottish Government Consultation from SENSCOT, Social Firms Scotland and Scottish Community Alliance on the “Replacement of European Structural Funds in Scotland Post EU Exit”. Though following Brexit Scotland can no longer access EU funds, he still follows latest programme developments.

Academia

Since 2016, he has been a lecturer in business management and now supervises doctoral students at Glasgow Caledonian University and continues to write articles and deliver seminars for the third sector. His more recent contributions can be seen on the Aizlewood Group site.

He is an Associate Lecturer in economics at the Open University and was a member of the DD226 Economics in Practice Module Team. For his research he is also an Honorary Associate at the Open University.

European Parliament Former Members’ Association

He retains access to EU Council of Ministers, Commission and Parliament facilities through his current active membership of the European Parliament Former Members’ Association.