Victoria Jane Foxcroft (born 9 March 1977) is a

British Labour The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all gene ...

politician who has been 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 o ...

(MP) for Lewisham Deptford since 2015.

Early life and career

She talked to

Gloria De Piero Gloria De Piero (born 21 December 1972) is a British television and radio presenter, and former Labour Party politician. Prior to her political career, she was the political editor of GMTV. A member of the Labour Party, she was first electe ...

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about her experiences of abuse in her childhood. Foxcroft studied for a Bachelor of Arts 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 in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...

between 1996 and 2000. Foxcroft has been a Labour Party member since at least 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 Bl ...

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

Brockley Brockley is a district and an electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross. History The name Brockley is derived from "Broca's woodland clearing", a wood where badgers are seen (' ...

ward on Lewisham Council. 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 Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (afte ...

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

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. 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 "The Red Flag" () is a socialist song, emphasising the sacrifices and solidarity of the international labour movement. It is the anthem of the British Labour Party, the Northern Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party and the Irish Labour ...

. After the first election of

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 ...

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

Owen Smith Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a former Labour Party politician and subsequently a British lobbyist, who has been the UK government relations director for pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb since 2020. Smith was Member of Parliamen ...

in the

2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election The 2016 Labour Party leadership election was called when a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party arose following criticism of his approach to the Remain campaign in the referendum on membership of the European Union and q ...

. 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. Foxcroft endorsed Lisa Nandy in the

2020 Labour Party leadership election Labour Party leadership elections were held in the following countries in 2020: * 2020 Labour Party leadership election (Ireland) *2020 Labour Party leadership election (UK) **2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election *2020 Scottish Labour deput ...

. Foxcroft asked 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 in the United Kingdom, currently held as a single session every W ...

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...

, 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, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

'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.

Views

In 2016, Foxcroft established the cross-party Youth Violence Commission, 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 Sure Start is a UK Government area-based initiative, announced in 1998 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, applying primarily in England with slightly different versions in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The initiative o ...

, 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." Foxcroft supports lowering the voting age to 16, co-chairing the

APPG 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-party ...

for Votes at 16. She supported Remain in the

EU referendum This is a list of referendums related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referendums have been held by EU member states, candidate st ...

in June 2016 and voted against the triggering of Article 50 in February 2017.

References

External links

*
Vicky Foxcroft's party profile at labour.org.uk

Vicky Foxcroft's profile on the Labour Party website for Lewisham Deptford

Vicky Foxcroft's blog

Vicky Foxcroft's Twitter profile

Vicky Foxcroft's LinkedIn profile

Vicky Foxcroft's YouTube channel
{{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–present English women trade unionists 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England