Bellavia Janet Ribeiro-Addy (born 1 March 1985) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clapham and Brixton Hill, previously

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, since

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. In 2020, she was briefly Shadow Minister for Immigration. She chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations. On the political left, she is a member of the

Socialist Campaign Group The Socialist Campaign Group, also simply known as the Campaign Group, is a UK parliamentary caucus of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party including Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the Uni ...

Early life and education

Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy was born on 1 March 1985 in

, south London, growing up in a working-class family on a council estate on

Brixton Hill Brixton Hill is the name given to a section of road between Brixton and Streatham Hill in south London, England. Brixton Hill and Streatham Hill form part of the traditional main A23 road, London to Brighton road (A23). The road follows the li ...

. She is of Ghanaian descent. She attended the

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Streatham and Clapham High School on a scholarship. Ribeiro-Addy then graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in Biomedical Science with Ethics & Philosophy of Science from the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

in 2006. She then completed a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in Medical Law & Ethics at

Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University ...

, awarded in 2007, and a

Graduate Diploma in Law The Graduate Diploma in Law/Postgraduate Diploma in Law/Common Professional Examination (GDL/PGDL/CPE) is a postgraduate law course in England and Wales that is taken by non-law graduates (graduates who have a degree in a discipline that is not ...

BPP Law School BPP University Law School is a private, for-profit provider of professional and academic legal education in the United Kingdom and one of the founding schools of BPP University. History BPP Law School has degree awarding powers through its pare ...

, awarded in 2015. She was the National Black Students' Officer for the National Union of Students (NUS) from 2008 to 2010, national co-ordinator of the Student Assembly Against Racism, and the national convenor of the NUS' Anti-Racism/Anti-Fascism campaign. In 2010, she and

LGBT+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

officer Daf Adley pushed the

Durham Union Society The Durham Union Society (DUS), commonly referred to as the Durham Union, is a debating society, founded in 1842, by the students at Durham University. It is the largest society associated with the university, with over 3,000 members in resid ...

to cancel a debate on multiculturalism, threatening to bus coaches of students to Durham for a "colossal demonstration" if

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...

MEP

Andrew Brons Andrew Henry William Brons (born 3 June 1947) is a British politician and former MEP. Long active in far-right politics in Britain, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber for the fascist British ...

were to speak on campus. She has described herself as a "life-long socialist". Ribeiro-Addy was chief of staff to former Labour frontbencher

Diane Abbott Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who has been serving as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987 Unit ...

from 2016 to 2019.

Parliamentary career

At the 2019 general election, Ribeiro-Addy was elected to Parliament as MP for

with 54.8% of the vote and a majority of 17,690 votes. Ribeiro-Addy in her

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

called for some form of

reparations Reparation(s) may refer to: Christianity * Reparation (theology), the theological concept of corrective response to God and the associated prayers for repairing the damages of sin * Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for re ...

to former colonial subjects, and spoke of the injustices faced by black people in Britain. In one of her first news interviews as an MP, she called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ghana, stating that it is her duty to make sure all people are free, and not discriminated against. In January 2020, Ribeiro-Addy was appointed as Shadow Minister for Immigration, just weeks after her election as a member of parliament. She was not retained in the role following the election of Sir

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

as Labour leader. In February 2020, she challenged the role of the media in devaluing black female MPs, particularly regarding errors by

BBC Parliament BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that showcases parliamentary content from across the United Kingdom. It broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the British Parliament (House of Commons o ...

and other outlets involving the mislabelling of photos of black female Labour MPs

Marsha de Cordova Marsha Chantal de Cordova (born 23 January 1976) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Battersea since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she was a Member of Lambeth London Borough Council from 2014 to 2018. Since 202 ...

and

Dawn Butler Dawn Petula Butler (born 3 November 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who is member of parliament (MP) for Brent East. She previously served as MP for Brent Central (2015–2024) and Brent South (2005–2010). Born in London to Jama ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, in March 2020, Ribeiro-Addy called on the government to release people held in immigration detention centres. Ribeiro-Addy supported adopting a

Zero-COVID Zero-COVID, also known as COVID-Zero and "Find, Test, Trace, Isolate, and Support" (FTTIS), was a Public health mitigation of COVID-19, public health policy implemented by some countries, especially Chinese government response to COVID-19, China ...

strategy to combat the

and wrote an article in June 2021 in support of delaying the lifting of lockdown, criticised a "vaccine only" approach and called for the continuation of restrictions until case numbers reach zero. In December 2021, she voted against the introduction of vaccine passports and mandatory vaccination of

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

staff. Ribeiro-Addy – whose first UK-born black relative was Thomas Birch Freeman, born in

Twyford, Hampshire Twyford is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, approximately south of Winchester and near the M3 motorway (Great Britain), M3 motorway and Twyford Down. In 2001, the population of the parish was 1,456. The village and parish are ...

, in 1809 – has called for better black history education in schools, saying in October 2021: "Our civil rights struggle here in the UK is not one that we learn about as much." On 24 February 2022, following the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Ribeiro-Addy was one of 11 Labour MPs threatened with losing the party whip after they signed a statement by the

Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group that campaigns against the United Kingdom's involvement in military conflicts. It was established on 21 September 2001 to campaign against the impe ...

, which questioned the legitimacy of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and accused the military alliance of "eastward expansion". All 11 MPs subsequently removed their signatures. In the 2019–24 Parliament, she chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations. In August 2023, Ribeiro-Addy argued for revision of the British Museum Act 1963, which currently prevents exhibits such as the

Benin bronzes The Benin Bronzes are a group of several thousand metal plaques and sculptures that decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Edo State, Nigeria. The metal plaques were produced by the Guild of Benin Bronze Casters, now ...

and the

Elgin Marbles The Elgin Marbles ( ) are a collection of Ancient Greek sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures from the Acropolis of Athens, removed from Ottoman Greece in the early 19th century and shipped to Britain by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7 ...

from being returned to their countries of origin. Due to the

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

, Ribeiro-Addy's constituency of Streatham was abolished, and replaced with Clapham and Brixton Hill. At the 2024 general election, Ribeiro-Addy was elected to Parliament as MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill with 56.5% of the vote and a majority of 18,005.

Personal life

Ribeiro-Addy served as a

school governor In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, school governors are the overseers of a school. In state schools, they have three main functions: *Giving the school a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction *Holding the headteacher to account for th ...

at Saint Gabriel's College, Camberwell, from 2018 to 2022. She is a Christian.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ribeiro-Addy, Bell Living people 1985 births 21st-century British women politicians Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Alumni of the University of Bradford Black British MPs Black British women politicians British activists for Palestinian solidarity British anti-racism activists British socialist feminists English anti-fascists English Christian socialists English people of Ghanaian descent English socialists Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Streatham and Clapham High School Politicians from the London Borough of Lambeth School governors Socialist Campaign Group UK MPs 2019–2024 UK MPs 2024–present