Alexandra Louise Rosenfield Phillips (born 9 July 1985) is a British politician. She served as a

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

from 2019 to 2020. She was Mayor of

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

from May 2019 to May 2020; the youngest person to hold the office. Phillips was a Brighton and Hove City councillor between 2009 and 2023.

Early life and local political career

Phillips was born on 9 July 1985 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

, to Roger Phillips and Margaret Rosenfield. She is of Jewish heritage. Her father worked as a presenter for

BBC Radio Merseyside BBC Radio Merseyside is the BBC's local radio station serving Merseyside. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds, from studios on Hanover Street in Liverpool. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 203,000 ...

for 42 years before retiring in 2020. Her younger sister, Ellie Phillips, works as a television presenter and journalist. Brought up in Liverpool, Phillips was initially a Labour Party activist with her mother, joining the party at the age of 16. In 2003 she resigned from Labour and joined the

as a result of the then Labour government's decision to invade Iraq. She holds a bachelor's degree in French Studies from the

University of London Institute in Paris The University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP; ) is a central academic body of the University of London located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is currently the only British university institute in continental Europe. History The in ...

and a PGCE from the

UCL Institute of Education IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to m ...

. Phillips moved to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

in 2008. She was elected to represent the Goldsmid ward on

Brighton and Hove City Council Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services ...

in a 2009 by-election, and re-elected in 2011. In subsequent council elections she contested the Regency ward, winning a seat in both 2015 and 2019. She became Brighton's youngest mayor in 2019 after being selected for the role by her fellow councillors. She finished her term as mayor in May 2020. Outside of her council roles, she has worked as the policy lead at the

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and

sexual health Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, healthcare, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual wellbeing during all stages of their life. The term can also be further de ...

charity,

Terrence Higgins Trust Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV, to ...

, and as a French and German language

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

teacher in Croydon, London, and later Hampshire. In 2022, Phillips announced that she and her husband were stepping down as councillors ahead of the May 2023 elections.

European Parliament

In the 2014 European parliamentary election, Phillips stood as a candidate in the

constituency. She was second on her party's list after Keith Taylor (Green Party MEP since 2010). In the election, the Green Party won just one seat in South East England which therefore went to Taylor as their first-placed candidate. Phillips worked as Senior Campaigns Coordinator for Green Party MP

Caroline Lucas Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who has twice led the Green Party of England and Wales and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election. She was re-elected ...

's successful general election campaigns in 2010 and 2015. She supported the United Kingdom remaining within the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(EU) in the

2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

. Phillips contested the 2019 European Parliament election in the South East England constituency. This time she was first on her party's list, Taylor having chosen not to seek re-election. In the same constituency, another candidate called Alexandra Phillips also stood as a candidate but for the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...

. In the election, both were elected as MEPs. In the European Parliament, she was a member of the

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion, free movement for workers and pensio ...

, and part of the delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

House of Commons bid

Phillips was the Green Party candidate for at the 2019 general election. She finished fourth out of five candidates.

Personal life

Phillips is married to Tom Druitt, a fellow Green Party

councillor and managing director of

The Big Lemon The Big Lemon is a bus and coach operator in Brighton, East Sussex, Bristol and Bath. It is registered as a Community Interest Company. History The Big Lemon was founded by Tom Druitt in 2007. After gaining an operator licence, the firs ...

(a bus and coach operator in Brighton). They both hold shares in the company which has a contract with the city council. They have two children.

References

External links

Councillor Alex Phillips
at Brighton and Hove City Council
Alex Phillips
at South East Greens
MEP
at European Parliament {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Alexandra 1985 births Living people Green Party of England and Wales MEPs MEPs for England 2019–2020 21st-century women MEPs for England Councillors in East Sussex Green Party of England and Wales councillors Green Party of England and Wales parliamentary candidates Jewish British politicians Labour Party (UK) people Mayors of places in East Sussex Politicians from Liverpool Women councillors in England