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Alexandra Louise Mayer (born 2 June 1981) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard since 2024.[3] She was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England region from 2016 to 2019.[4]

Early life

Mayer was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and brought up in Crawley, West Sussex. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from Exeter University in 2001 and has a master's degree in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from the University of Leeds.

Politics

In the 2014 European Parliament election she stood in for the East of England region in second position on the Labour list,[5] which did not yield a seat, but took over from Richard Howitt following his resignation.[6][7]

Mayer is a member of the Labour Party's National Policy Forum, the GMB, UNISON and the Co-operative Party.

In the European Parliament she was Labour's spokesperson for the foreign affairs (16–18) and the economy (18–19)[4] and a member of the US-EU Relations Delegation. She is the international co-ordinator for the Washington DC Statehood campaign.[8]

A member of the Labour Animal Welfare Society, Alex is a long-standing animal welfare campaigner, she was awarded the Cruelty Free International Parliamentarian Award and took an 8 million signature petition to the United Nations in New York on the topic of animal free cosmetic testing.

Mayer has been a member of Amnesty International for over twenty years and worked on issues relating to the ongoing human rights abuses in Kashmir, as a member of the European Parliament Friends of Kashmir group.[9]

In May 2024, Mayer was selected to be Labour's candidate for the new constituency of Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard at the 2024 general election.[10][11]

On 4 July 2024, Mayer won the Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard seat, becoming the area's first female MP.[3] She is the first Labour MP for the area in over 50 years since Labour's Gwilym Roberts won the South Bedfordshire constituency in 1966.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Key dates ahead". European Parliament. 20 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Key dates ahead". BBC News Online. British Broadcasting Corporation. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Bedfordshire election results see stalwart Selous ousted". BBC News. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Alex MAYER". MEPs. European Parliament.
  5. ^ "Elections 2014: European election candidates for the Eastern region". Peterborough Today. 8 May 2014. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019.
  6. ^ Conor Pope (5 September 2016). "Senior MEP Richard Howitt to quit Brussels for financial services job". LabourList. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  7. ^ Sophie Day (27 October 2016). "East of England MEP bids farewall to European Parliament role". The Hunts Post. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  8. ^ "From Lougton to New York: Biggest ever animal related petition is handed to the UN". St Albans & Harpenden Review. 7 October 2018.
  9. ^ Hutchinson, Paul (27 May 2019). "Here's how Bedford voted in the European Elections".
  10. ^ "Alex Mayer has been selected as Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard". Labour East. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  11. ^ Duncan, Euan (28 May 2024). "Alex Mayer to stand for Labour in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency". Luton News.
  12. ^ "Mr Gwilym Roberts (Hansard)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2024.


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