Vicky Foxcroft

Victoria Jane Foxcroft[1] (born 9 March 1977[2][3]) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham Deptford since 2015.[4]

Vicky Foxcroft

MP
Shadow Minister for Disabled People
Assumed office
9 April 2020
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byMarsha De Cordova
Shadow Minister for Civil Society
In office
24 June 2019 – 9 April 2020
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded bySteve Reed
Succeeded byRachael Maskell (Voluntary Sector & Charities)
Member of Parliament
for Lewisham Deptford
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byDame Joan Ruddock
Majority32,913 (59.4%)
Personal details
Born
Victoria Jane Foxcroft

(1977-03-09) 9 March 1977
Chorley, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materDe Montfort University
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and career

Foxcroft studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and Business Studies at De Montfort University between 1996 and 2000.[3][5]

Foxcroft has been a Labour Party member since at least 1997,[5] and has sat on the Party's National Policy Forum.[5] From 2010 until May 2014 she was a local councillor for the Brockley ward on Lewisham Council.[6][7]

Foxcroft has been credited with helping the successful campaign against the closure of University Hospital Lewisham.[8]

In 2002, Foxcroft became an officer at the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU), continuing through the merger of the AEEU into Amicus in 2001, and through the merger of Amicus into Unite the Union in 2007. She was a research officer from 2002 to 2005; a political officer from 2005 to 2009, and a finance sector officer from 2009 until 2015.[5]

Foxcroft has lived in Lewisham, Deptford since at least 2004.[5]

Parliamentary career

Foxcroft contested the Lewisham Deptford constituency for the Labour Party at the 2015 general election. She won with a 60.25% share of the vote.[9] Her campaign promised to "reverse the privatisation of the NHS",[10] increase free childcare to 25 hours per week,[10] raise the minimum wage to £8 per hour,[10] and provide jobs to everyone unemployed for more than one year.[10] Her campaign criticised "rip-off letting agents fees",[10] pay-day lenders,[11] the under-occupancy penalty ("Bedroom Tax"),[11] and the trebling of the cap on tuition fees.[11]

Foxcroft made her maiden speech in a debate on the Scotland Bill on 8 June 2015, in which she quoted lyrics from The Red Flag.[12] After the first election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in September 2015, Foxcroft was appointed as a whip.[13]

She supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election.[14]

Foxcroft was re-elected at the 2017 snap general election with a 77% share of the vote.

In June 2019 Foxcroft was promoted to become Shadow Minister for Civil Society.[15]

Foxcroft endorsed Lisa Nandy in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.[16]

Views

In 2016, Foxcroft established the cross-party Youth Violence Commission,[17] which she continues to chair.

In November 2018, Foxcroft said, "Sadly, the increase (in the number of young people killed in knife attacks) does not surprise me. You can't cut police, Sure Start, essential services in schools, access to mental health services and youth work, and not expect there to be a consequence. And beyond the tragic fatalities, there's an exponentially larger number of knife attacks that don't kill children but do create a climate of fear."[18]

Foxcroft supports lowering the voting age to 16, co-chairing the APPG for Votes at 16.[19]

References
  1. "No. 61230". The London Gazette. 18 May 2015. p. 9116.
  2. "Vicky Foxcroft". LinkedIn. Retrieved 5 June 2015. Birthday: March 9
  3. "SLP Column on Further Education Cuts". Vicky Foxcroft's website. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2019. Without that second chance, I would not have been able to go on to study Drama and Business Studies at DeMontford University
  4. "Lewisham Deptford Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  5. Dale, Iain; Callus, Greg; Hamilton, Daniel; Waller, Robert (2014), The Politicos Guide to the 2015 General Election
  6. "Vicky Foxcroft, MP for Lewisham Deptford". Labour Party. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  7. "Vicky Foxcroft- Your Labour Candidate for Lewisham Deptford". Labour Party. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  8. "Vicky Foxcroft, MP for Lewisham Deptford". Labour Party. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  9. "Vicky Foxcroft MP". parliament.uk. Parliament UK. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  10. "Working hard for Lewisham Deptford". Labour Party. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  11. "Only Labour will save OUR NHS". Labour Party. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  12. "Daily Hansard - Debate". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. 8 June 2015. col. 967–970.
  13. Chakelian, Anoosh (18 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet: the full list of ministers". New Statesman. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  14. "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith". LabourList. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  15. "Labour frontbench update: Reed and Foxcroft reshuffled". Labour List. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  16. "I'm proud to throw my support behind @lisanandy to be our next leader. She has what it takes to reunite our movement & bring together people in seats like mine with seats like hers". Twitter. 3 January 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  17. "The Youth Violence Commission website". Youth Violence Commission website. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  18. Surge in young knife deaths amid police cuts and 'a climate of fear' The Guardian. 29 November 2018.
  19. "House of Commons - Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups as at 1 July 2020: Votes at 16". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Joan Ruddock		 Member of Parliament
for Lewisham Deptford
2015–present		 Incumbent
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