Former Bristol Mayor and MP given Labour peerages
Marvin Rees and Thangam Debbonaire will take up seats in the House of Lords
Last updated 21st Dec 2024
Former Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees and the former Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire, have both been named among 30 new Labour peers.
Downing Street announced a raft of new appointments to the House of Lords on Friday afternoon (20th December), which also included former Sue Grey, the partygate investigator who went on to become Sir Kier Starmer's chief of staff and Conservative Liz Truss's deputy prime minister, Dame Therese Coffey.
Overall, 38 new appointments were announced, with six from the Tories and two from the Liberal Democrats, as well as the 30 from Labour.
Mr Rees served as Bristol's Mayor from 2016 to 2024, but left the role earlier this year when it was scrapped following a referendum.
Ms Debbonaire was Bristol West MP from 2015 until July's General Election, during which time she also served on Labour's Shadow Cabinet.
Both she and Mr Rees tried unsuccessfully to win a seat as an MP in July. Ms Debbonaire lost in the newly named Bristol Central constituency to the Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, while Mr Rees failed to be selected as Labour's candidate for Bristol North East.
Their defeats led some to predict both would receive peerages, as has now happened.
Writing on X, Ms Debbonaire said: “I’m honoured to be asked to join the House of Lords. I’m grateful to the Prime Minister for giving me this opportunity to serve the country and support the Labour government he leads to transform the UK.”
Toby Young, the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, is among those who has been made a Conservative life peer, while former MP Luciana Berger who resigned from Labour in 2019 over the antisemitism scandal before rejoining in 2023 will sit on the Labour Lords benches.
The six nominations from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, include Dame Therese as well as former housing minister Rachel Maclean, Oxford professor Nigel Biggar, former deputy mayor of London Roger Evans and Joanne Cash, a barrister and co-founder of Parent Gym.
Mike Katz, the national chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement and Anne Longfield, who served as the Children's Commissioner for England between 2015 and 2021 will also be made life peers.
Among the other Labour names on the list put forward by Sir Keir are former MPs Julie Elliott, Lyn Brown, Steve McCabe and Kevin Brennan, as well as former Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones.
There are also two nominations from the leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey, including Mark Pack who has been president of the party since 2020.
Labour has pledged to reform the House of Lords and has already moved to get rid of hereditary peers.
The announcement will boost Sir Keir's numbers in the upper chamber, which sat at 187 Labour peers compared to 273 from the Conservatives.
A Labour source said that the Conservatives had created an "imbalance" in the Lords that needed to be "corrected".
They said: "The Tories stuffed the House of Lords, creating a serious imbalance in the chamber. This needs to be corrected to drive through the Government's plan for change and deliver on our mandate from the British people.
"We are committed to an overdue programme of reform and have already laid legislation to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords."