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Alex Davies-Jones
Alexandra Davies-Jones (born 5 April 1989) is a Welsh Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontypridd since 2019.[1][2] She has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Victims since July 2024.[3][4] She previously served as Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding from November 2023 to July 2024.[5][6] Early life and educationAlexandra Davies was born on 5 April 1989 in Church Village. She is the daughter of a miner, stating that she was "brought up on the values of socialism". She attended Tonyrefail Primary School, Tonyrefail Comprehensive School and graduated from Cardiff University with a joint honours degree in law and politics.[7] Political careerDavies-Jones was a youth representative for the Labour Party, Co-operative Party, and the trade union Unite the Union.[8] She began her career as a researcher in the House of Commons and the National Assembly for Wales. Davies-Jones was a Regional Development Consultant for the Electoral Reform Society from 2010 to 2011.[2] She then worked as a communications and press officer for Wales and the West Midlands at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors from 2013 to 2015. She worked for the non-profit Dwr Cymru Welsh Water as a regional communications director and then a community engagement manager from 2015 to 2019.[7] Davies-Jones was elected as a councillor for Tonyrefail Community Council in 2012, at the age of 23, and for Rhondda Cynon Taf Council in 2017.[9] Parliamentary careerAt the 2019 general election, Davies-Jones was elected to Parliament as MP for Pontypridd with 44.5% of the vote and a majority of 5,890.[10][11][12] Davies-Jones spoke publicly about threats she received in January 2023 after she raised the issue of Andrew Tate's influence over school behaviour in boys. Raising the issue initially at prime minister's questions, she told MPs “Teachers are now having to develop their own resources to re-educate boys who are being brainwashed online by his deeply toxic messaging.”[13] Davies-Jones involved the police after she received death threats and rape threats.[14] In February 2023 following on investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Davies-Jones was found to have breached the Code of Conduct for Members in relation to asking a parliamentary question about the British Council.[15] She had taken part in a British Council funded trip to Japan the previous autumn. Davies-Jones apologised and following the report's determination that the breach was "minor and inadvertent", the Commons Select Committee on Standards took no further action.[16] Davies-Jones is a parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel and was part of a delegation to the country in February 2023.[17][18] Her Parliamentary record in respect to Israel includes abstaining on a vote for a ceasefire in Gaza,[19] as well as forgoing an open letter calling for the suspension of arms sales to Israel in March 2024. Her support of Israel has faced protest from Rhondda Cynon Taf Palestine Solidarity Campaign in light of the Gaza genocide, especially with statements in October 2023 from Israeli President Isaac Herzog being flagged by the International Court of Justice as using genocidal language. [20] During the run up to the 2024 United Kingdom general election Davies-Jones pulled out of a hustings event held by Rhondda Cynon Taf Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the National Education Union. She told the organisers she could no longer participate as a result of threats from another candidate, and was acting on police advice not to attend the event. The hustings event was cancelled.[21] On 29 June 2024, two constituents were arrested after Davies-Jones filed a complaint of "intimidation" in response to an online video of them asking her why she had abstained on a SNP motion for a ceasefire in Gaza. According to a statement by the South Wales Police, "Two women, aged 25 and 30, have been arrested on suspicion of harassment, public order offences and criminal damage in the Pontypridd area". The two had their homes raided and were given bail conditions restricting their ability to talk about the arrests on social media.[22] The raid, for which one arrestee is "experiencing PTSD" and another has been forced into homelessness, falls into a pattern of harassment and intimidation by South Wales Police toward the pro-Palestine movement as found by Netpol reports. [23] At the 2024 general election, Davies-Jones was re-elected as MP for Pontypridd with a decreased vote share of 41.2% and an increased majority of 8,402.[24] In November 2024, Davies-Jones voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.[25] Personal lifeDavies-Jones has two stepsons, Blake and Kieran, and a son, Sullivan, with her husband, Andrew, whom she married in 2014.[26][2] In January 2021, Davies-Jones talked to BBC News about her experiences of cervical cancer.[27] Notes
References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alex Davies-Jones. |
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