Victoria Jane Foxcroft (born 9 March 1977) is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham North, previously

Lewisham Deptford Lewisham Deptford was a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencie ...

, since

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. She is a former

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

official and was a Member of

Lewisham Council Lewisham London Borough Council, also known as Lewisham Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Lewisham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour major ...

from 2010 to 2014.

Early life and career

Victoria Foxcroft was born on 9 March 1977 in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

. She experienced abuse during her childhood. She studied for a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in Drama and Business Studies at

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body ...

between 1996 and 2000. Foxcroft has been a Labour member since 1997, and has sat on the Party's

National Policy Forum The National Policy Forum (NPF) of the British Labour Party is part of the policy-making system of the Party, set up by Leader Tony Blair as part of the Partnership in Power process. A Provisional National Policy Forum had been established by Bla ...

. From 2010 until May 2014 she was a local councillor for the

Brockley Brockley is a district and an wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross. It has been named the best area of London to live in. It is an area rich in Vi ...

ward on

. 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 the merger of Amicus into

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a trade union in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus (trade union), Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union. A general 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.

Parliamentary career

At the 2015 general election, Foxcroft was elected to Parliament as MP for

with 60.2% of the vote and a majority of 21,516. Foxcroft made 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 ...

in a debate on the Scotland Bill on 8 June 2015, in which she quoted lyrics from The Red Flag. After the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

as Labour leader in September 2015, Foxcroft was appointed as a whip. She supported

Owen Smith Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a British lobbyist and former Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. Smith was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontypridd (UK Parliament constituency), Pontypridd from 2 ...

in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election. In 2016, Foxcroft established the cross-party Youth Violence Commission, which she continues to chair. At the snap 2017 general election, Foxcroft was re-elected as MP for Lewisham Deptford with an increased vote share of 77% and an increased majority of 34,899. 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". In June 2019 Foxcroft was promoted to become Shadow Minister for Civil Society. At the 2019 general election, Foxcroft was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 70.8% and a decreased majority of 32,913. Foxcroft endorsed

Lisa Nandy Lisa Eva Nandy (born 9 August 1979) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport since 2024. She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Wigan constituency since 2010. Nandy previ ...

in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election. Foxcroft supports lowering the voting age to 16, co-chairing the APPG for Votes at 16. Foxcroft asked in April 2021 what is thought to be the first ever question at

Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention in the United Kingd ...

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom and is the first or preferred language among the Deafness in the United Kingdom, deaf community in the UK. While private correspondence from William Stokoe hinted at a f ...

, bringing attention to the absence of a sign language interpreter at

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

's press briefings. While press briefings are broadcast with an on-screen interpreter, Foxcroft expressed concern about the lack of an on-platform interpreter. There have been several legal challenges to this end claiming the government is violating human rights law. 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 ...

, Foxcroft's constituency of Lewisham Deptford was abolished, and replaced with Lewisham North. At the 2024 general election, Foxcroft was elected to Parliament as MP for Lewisham North with 57.7% of the vote and a majority of 15,782.

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Foxcroft, Vicky 1977 births Living people Alumni of De Montfort University Councillors in the London Borough of Lewisham English trade unionists Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 UK MPs 2024–present English women trade unionists 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians Women councillors in England Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East