Laura Coryton

Laura Coryton is a British campaigner, feminist activist and author. She is the founder of Stop Taxing Periods, a campaign to abolish the Tampon Tax in the United Kingdom and make menstrual products exempt from VAT. Coryton published her first book 'Speak Up!', a campaign guide for rebel girls, in 2019.

Coryton was named one of The Observer's and Nesta's 2016 New Radicals.[1][2] In December 2016, the BBC included her in their list of Five women who aren’t on Wikipedia but should be.[3]

Education and career

She was born on 28 May 1993 in Devon.[4] Coryton graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2015 and worked for the Labour Party. [1] She read for her MSt in Women's Studies at the University of Oxford. She is also an ambassador for The Eve Appeal, a British charity that raises awareness of and funds research into gynaecological cancers,[5] and founded the Homeless Period Project, a campaign to support homeless women's access to menstrual products.[6]

Stop Taxing Periods campaign

Coryton started the Stop Taxing Periods campaign in May 2014 while a student at Goldsmiths. The campaign was centred around an online petition on campaign hosting website Change.org. By early 2016 the petition had gained more than 320,000 signatures and global recognition.[3][7] Stop Taxing Periods also used protests, demonstration and viral social media.

In 2015 the campaign gained the support of the then Prime Minister David Cameron, who said "I wish we could get rid of this… [but] there’s a problem with getting rid of VAT on certain individual issues because of the way this tax is regulated and set in Europe."[8] Change.org's UK director Brie Rogers cited Coryton as a successful example of clicktivism and the influence of online political activism on national politics.[9]

In March 2016 Parliament accepted a Tampon Tax amendment proposed by Paula Sherriff MP, the then Chancellor George Osborne pledged in his budget to make menstrual products exempt from sales tax.[7] The amendment is set to be implemented by April 2018. Coryton launched periodwatch.org to countdown to 2018, when the amendment is expected to be enacted into law, and to hold the government to account.[3]

References
  1. "Laura Coryton Nesta". www.nesta.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  2. "2016 New Radicals: the story behind this year's winners". The Observer. 2016-07-10.
  3. White, Catriona (2016-12-07). "Five women who aren't on Wikipedia but should be". bbc.co.uk.
  4. Charlotte Cross (27 February 2015), Campaign to #EndTamponTax to go before George Osborne after topping 188,000 signatures, ITN
  5. "Meet our Ambassadors | The Eve Appeal". The Eve Appeal. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  6. "Tom throws weight behind Homeless Period Project". Tom Brake. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  7. "How a student started a global movement to end the tampon tax". The Independent. 2016-02-23. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  8. "David Cameron: I would like to get rid of tampon tax". Politics Home. 22 April 2015.
  9. "How Change.org boss Brie Rogers Lowery is clicking up an activism storm". The Evening Standard. 7 Jan 2016.
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