Vicky Foxcroft

Victoria Jane Foxcroft (born 9 March 1977) is a British Labour politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham North; she was previously the MP for Lewisham Deptford from 2015 until the seat's abolition in 2024. She is a former trade union official and was a Member of Lewisham Council from 2010 to 2014.

Early life and career
Victoria Foxcroft was born on 9 March 1977 in Chorley. She experienced abuse during her childhood. She studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and Business Studies at De Montfort University between 1996 and 2000.

Foxcroft has been a Labour member since 1997, and has sat on the Party's National Policy Forum. From 2010 until May 2014 she was a local councillor for the Brockley 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 the merger of Amicus into Unite the 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 Lewisham Deptford with 60.2% of the vote and a majority of 21,516. Foxcroft made her maiden speech in a debate on the Scotland Bill on 8 June 2015, in which she quoted lyrics from The Red Flag.

After the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in September 2015, Foxcroft was appointed as a whip.

She supported Owen Smith 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 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 in British Sign Language, bringing attention to the absence of a sign language interpreter at Boris Johnson'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, Foxcroft's constituency of Lewisham Deptford was abolished, and replaced with Lewisham North. In June 2024, Foxcroft was selected as the Labour candidate for Lewisham North at the 2024 general election.