Antonia Louise Antoniazzi (born 5 October 1971) is a Welsh Labour Party politician. She was elected as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Gower Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

at the 2017 general election.

Early life

Antoniazzi was born and raised in

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...

by a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

mother and a Welsh–Italian father. She attended St John Lloyd Catholic Comprehensive School and Gorseinon College. After studying French and Italian at

Exeter University , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

, she gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

. She has been head of languages at

Bryngwyn Comprehensive School Bryngwyn Comprehensive School is a secondary school located in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The school has received excellent overall GCSE marks with the majority of the students achieving a A* - C grade. Notable pupils include Scarlets and ...

in Llanelli. She won nine caps as a prop forward for the

Wales women's national rugby union team The Wales women's national rugby union team first played in 1987. Wales plays in the Women's Rugby World Cup and the Women's Six Nations Championship History Wales Women have played as a team officially since 5 April 1987 when a Wales Women te ...

Parliamentary career

Antoniazzi contested the regional seat of

Mid and West Wales Mid and West Wales or Mid and South West Wales refers to an ambiguous region of Wales that is sometimes used, consisting broadly of the preserved counties of Dyfed and Powys, sometimes Swansea and sometimes parts of Gwynedd. It is also used ...

in the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election. She then stood for parliament at the 2017 general election for the

constituency, which was held at the time by the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Byron Davies Henry Byron Davies, Baron Davies of Gower (born 4 September 1952) is a Conservative Party politician and life peer. He has been serving as a Lord in Waiting since September 2022. Early life and career Byron Davies was born in Port Eynon, Gower ...

with a 27-vote majority, making it the UK's most marginal seat. She was successful, turning the seat Labour by gaining a 3,269 majority. On her election, she stated that she intended to be a strong constituency MP, and that "Gower is and always will be my first priority". Antoniazzi delivered her maiden speech on 29 June 2017. In her speech she outlined how Italian immigration had shaped cafe culture in Wales and the UK. Antoniazzi is Chair of the

All Party Parliamentary Group An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-part ...

s on Medical Cannabis under Prescription and on Cancer. In June 2019, Antoniazzi urged ministers to allow the use of

medical cannabis Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana (MMJ), is cannabis and cannabinoids that are prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has not been rigorously tested due to production and governmental restrictions ...

by "all who need it", citing the case of 12-year-old Billy Caldwell whose

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

was alleviated through use of the drug. Also in June 2019, Antoniazzi securing a debate in parliament about the health risks of

electromagnetic field An electromagnetic field (also EM field or EMF) is a classical (i.e. non-quantum) field produced by (stationary or moving) electric charges. It is the field described by classical electrodynamics (a classical field theory) and is the classical c ...

s, particularly 5G technology, in which she asked the government to commit to ensuring that

Public Health England Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in England which began operating on 1 April 2013 to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. Its formation came as a ...

informed the public that all radio frequency signals are a possible human carcinogen. She was subsequently accused in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' of spreading "

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". In the 2019 General Election, Antoniazzi was returned as the MP for Gower with a smaller majority. In the subsequent Labour leadership election, Antoniazzi nominated

Jess Phillips Jessica Rose Phillips (; born 9 October 1981) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguardi ...

Brexit

Antoniazzi has served as the

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to the

Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), British Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and their department, th ...

(2017–2018) and the

Shadow Secretary of State for Wales The Shadow Secretary of State for Wales or Shadow Welsh Secretary is a member of the UK Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the Secretary of State for Wales and his/her department, the Wales Office , agency_type = Ministerial ...

(2018) before resigning. On 13 June 2018, Antoniazzi and five other Labour MPs resigned their roles as frontbenchers for the Labour Party in protest at Labour's

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

position. Leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

had instructed his MPs to abstain in a vote which Britain would remain in the single market by joining the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Ass ...

(EEA). The MPs resigned and voted in favour of the EEA. In the series of Parliamentary votes on Brexit in March 2019, Antoniazzi voted against the Labour Party whip and in favour of an amendment tabled by members of

The Independent Group The Independent Group for Change, also known as Change UK, was a British centrist, pro-European Union political party, founded in February 2019 and dissolved ten months later, shortly after all its MPs lost their seats in the 2019 general e ...

for a second public vote.

LGBT+ rights

In October 2021, Antoniazzi criticised the LGBT charity Stonewall, stating the Welsh government had promoted an "ideological culture" and were "dictated to by Stonewall". Antoniazzi has met with

Fair Play for Women The decennial 2021 censuses of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland took place on 21 March 2021, and the census of Scotland took place on 20 March 2022. The censuses were administered by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in England an ...

Woman's Place UK Woman's Place UK (WPUK) is a British political advocacy group founded in 2017. The group is opposed to gender self-identification for trans people in the UK, and has advocated restricting access to women-only spaces on the basis of "sex, not g ...

and Transgender Trend. In January 2022, Antoniazzi and four other Labour delegates to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

tabled ten amendments to Resolution 2417, "Combating rising hate against LGBTI people in Europe". The amendments sought to include the word "sex" alongside gender identity, de-conflate the situation in the UK from Hungary, Poland, Russia and Turkey, and remove references to alleged anti-LGBTI movements in the UK. The delegates were criticised by ''

Pink News ''PinkNews'' is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in 2005. It closely follows political progress on LGBT rights aro ...

'' for removing references to anti-LGBTI attacks in the UK, a condemnation of anti-trans movements and a call to withdraw funding from anti-LGBTI groups or authorities; in turn the delegates were defended by

Debbie Hayton Debbie Hayton (born 1968) is a transgender British secondary school science teacher and political activist. Activism Since 2016, she has been a vocal opponent of gender self-identification, and supports laws which aim to define women-only spa ...

, a gender-critical activist, for protesting the removal of sex-essentialist language she considered important for non-trans women.

Personal life

Antoniazzi has a son.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Antoniazzi, Tonia 1971 births Living people 21st-century British women politicians Alumni of Cardiff University Alumni of the University of Exeter British politicians of Italian descent Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies People educated at Gorseinon College People educated at St John Lloyd Catholic Comprehensive School People from Llanelli Rugby union players from Llanelli UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Wales international rugby union players Welsh female rugby union players Welsh Labour Party MPs Welsh people of Italian descent Welsh rugby union players