The subject of this article is standing for re-election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 4 July, and will not be an incumbent MP once Parliament is dissolved on 30 May. Some parts of this article may be out of date during that period. |
Alberto Costa | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for South Leicestershire | |
Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |
Preceded by | Andrew Robathan |
Majority | 24,004 (41.8%) |
Personal details | |
Born | Alberto Castrenze Costa 13 November 1971 England [1] |
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
Website | albertocosta |
Alberto Castrenze Costa [2] (born 13 November 1971) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Leicestershire since the 2015 general election. [3]
Costa was born in England [4] to Italian parents who have lived in Scotland for 50 years. [5] [6] He grew up in Bishopbriggs attending Turnbull High School and the University of Glasgow,where he served as President of the Glasgow University Students' Representative Council in 1995/6. He trained as a solicitor and worked at the Treasury Solicitor's Department. [7]
At the 2010 general election,Costa unsuccessfully contested the Angus constituency;where he finished in second place behind the sitting MP Mike Weir of the Scottish National Party. [8]
Costa was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 EU referendum. [9]
He currently leads the House of Commons delegation of MPs affiliated to the Conservative Friends of Greece parliamentary group, [10] he is also co-Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Italy, [11] co-Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Medical Cannabis under Prescription [12] and Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Microplastics. [13]
Since 2018,he has campaigned against the release of the convicted child-killer Colin Pitchfork,who murdered two girls in the South Leicestershire constituency in the 1980s. [14] Pitchfork was released from prison on 1 September 2021 before being recalled to prison weeks later for breaching his licence conditions. [15] On 13 July 2022,Costa asked the Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the Government's help in intervening in Pitchfork's next parole hearing which was scheduled to take place in September 2022.
On 27 February 2019,he was asked to resign,and did so,from his role as parliamentary private secretary in the Scotland Office following his tabling of an amendment to protect rights of EU citizens. Shortly before his resignation,Home Secretary Sajid Javid backed the amendment in a committee meeting and said that the Government would support it. [16] It was later passed unopposed,approved 'on the nod' by the Commons. [17]
In 2019,Costa sent a survey to 11,000 residents in villages close to the site of the proposed Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange. [18] In February 2020,he held a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament to discuss the plans and local concerns in more detail, [19] in June 2022 he held a further debate in Parliament on the proposals. [20]
He has also been campaigned for safety improvements to be made to the A5 road in South Leicestershire,specifically the High Cross and Smockington Hollow junctions which are known locally as accident blackspots, [21] in January 2020 he welcomed £3 million improvements put forward by National Highways to improve safety. [22]
In January 2021,he asked the then Vaccination Minister Nadhim Zahawi to reopen the Feilding Palmer Hospital in Lutterworth as a vaccination hub during the COVID-19 pandemic, [23] the hospital was then reopened as a vaccination hub in February 2021. [24] In June 2021,Costa asked the then Health Secretary Sajid Javid for his help in keeping the Feilding Palmer Hospital in Lutterworth open. [25]
In November 2021,he called on the government to allow more prescriptions of medical cannabis to children with rare forms of epilepsy,citing the case of two of his young constituents. [26]
Linked to his work as Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Microplastics,Costa introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill in Parliament on 30 November 2021,the 'Microplastic Filters (Washing Machine) Bill' required washing machine manufacturers to fit microplastic catching filters in new washing machines to help stop microplastic pollution. [27] [28]
David John Barrington Burrowes is a British politician. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 2005 to 2017,is the co-founder of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. He has been the Chairman of the Equity Release Council since 2017
South Leicestershire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Alberto Costa,a member of the Conservative Party.
Jeff Smith is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester Withington since 2015,and the Shadow Minister for Clean Power and Consumers since September 2023. A former Manchester City Councillor,he served as a senior opposition whip in Parliament from 2015 to 2021,and Shadow Minister for Local Government from May to 4 December 2021.
Caroline Elizabeth Johnson is a British Conservative Party politician and consultant paediatrician who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Public Health from September to October 2022. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sleaford and North Hykeham since the 2016 by-election.
Martin John Vickers is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cleethorpes at the 2010 general election.
Stephen Anthony McPartland is a British Conservative Party politician and business consultant. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stevenage from 2010 to 2024,briefly serving as a minister in 2022.
Andrew James Bridgen is a British politician and businessman who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Leicestershire since 2010. He was a member of the Conservative Party until his expulsion in April 2023,having had the whip suspended in January after criticising the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and claiming that an Israeli cardiologist told him it constitutes "the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust". He joined the Reclaim Party in May 2023 but resigned from the party in December 2023.
Paul Maynard is a British politician who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackpool North and Cleveleys. A member of the Conservative Party,he has served Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions since November 2023. He previously as served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice in 2019 and for Transport from 2016 to 2018 and again from 2019 to 2020.
David Henry Rutley is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Macclesfield since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Americas and Caribbean since October 2022.
Mark Robert Timothy Garnier is a British Conservative Party politician and former banker. He was first elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wyre Forest at the 2010 general election. He was a junior minister at the Department for International Trade from July 2016 to January 2018.
Gareth Alan Johnson is a British politician and former lawyer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts from September to October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,he previously served as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from February to September 2022 and Assistant Government Whip from 2018 to 2019 and 2021 to 2022. Johnson was first elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dartford,winning the seat from Labour. He has been supportive of Leave Means Leave,a Eurosceptic pressure group.
Mark Julian Francis Pawsey is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rugby since the 2010 general election. He is a member of the Conservative Party.
John Philip Glen is a British politician and former management consultant who has served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General since November 2023. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Salisbury in Wiltshire since 2010. Glen was formerly Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts,Heritage and Tourism from 2017 to 2018;Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister from January 2018 to July 2022;and Chief Secretary to the Treasury from October 2022 until November 2023.
Andrew Iain Lewer is a British Conservative Party politician,who has been the Member of Parliament for Northampton South since the 2017 general election. He has previously served as Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands from 2014 to 2017.
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Social Care since October 2022,and previously from 2020 to 2021. She also served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Faversham and Mid Kent since 2015.
Wendy Morton is a British politician who served as Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from September to October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party,she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aldridge-Brownhills in the West Midlands since 2015.
David John Warburton is a British former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Somerton and Frome from 2015 until his resignation in 2023. On his election in the 2015 general election he represented the Conservative Party,but was suspended from the party in April 2022 pending the outcome of an Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) investigation into allegations,eventually withdrawn,of harassment and class A drug use. Prior to entering politics,he was the founder,chief executive and chairman of Pitch Entertainment Group. On 17 June 2023,Warburton announced his resignation as an MP,triggering a by-election.
Mark Ian Jenkinson is a British Conservative Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Workington since 2019.
Sarah Elizabeth Dines is a British Conservative Party politician. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Derbyshire Dales since the 2019 general election. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding from October 2022 to November 2023. She served as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from September to October 2022.
Mark Simon Eastwood is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury in the 2019 general election.