Laura Pidcock

Laura Pidcock (born 19 August 1987) is a British former Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham from 2017 until 2019, when she lost her seat.

Her mother Mary was a social worker while her father Bernard was an office manager[6] who was a member of Northumberland County Council from 2008 until his death in February 2019.

[7] Pidcock recollects, at the age of 3, attending demonstrations with her parents against then-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and against the apartheid system in South Africa.

[9] She studied politics at Manchester Metropolitan University,[10] and was a mental health support worker before working within, then managing, the education team at anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card.

[11] Pidcock was councillor for Cramlington Eastfield division on Northumberland County Council until she lost her seat to the Conservative Party candidate in the 2017 local elections.

[10] Only weeks prior to the 2017 United Kingdom general election, Pidcock was selected to stand for Labour in North West Durham, when the previous MP, Pat Glass, stood down.

[19] In July 2020, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards ordered Pidcock to repay more than £3,800 after she used Commons stationery to accuse the government of a "betrayal" over the BBC licence fee for over-75s.

"[25] She criticised the Conservative government for doing far too little for working-class people, and said that her then constituency had suffered long-term de-industrialisation and lack of investment, leading to significant financial difficulties for many residents.

[26] In December 2017, in a Parliamentary question to the Prime Minister, Theresa May, Pidcock condemned delays to payments under the Universal Credit system in the period just before Christmas, "the toughest financial time" for her constituents.

[34] In a Labour meeting in March 2021, former Deputy Leader Margaret Beckett, who was unaware her microphone was on, called Pidcock a "silly cow".

Pidcock speaking at the Britain is Broken rally in 2019