Labour has won two by-election victories in Wellingborough and Kingswood. A Conservative majority of more than 18,500 was overturned in Wellingborough. In Kingswood, the Conservatives saw the loss of an 11,000 majority.
The Kingswood constituency is set to be abolished for the next general election. Its contents will be split into three separate constituencies: North East Somerset and Hanham, Bristol North East, and Filton and Bradley Stoke. Damien Egan will stand for Bristol North East in the next general election.
Genevieve Kitchen won the Wellingborough by-election with the second-largest swing (28.5%) from the Conservatives to Labour since the Second World War. Damien Egan oversaw a swing of 16.4% from the Conservatives to Labour.
Using information from Polimapper’s Candidate Connect database, we give you some insight into the backgrounds of parliament’s newest MPs.
Genevieve Kitchen – Wellingborough
Kitchen was born in 1996 and grew up in Northampton. She went on to study History and Politics at Queen Mary University in London between 2013 to 2016.
Between 2018 to 2022, Kitchen was elected to Newham Council and became a Trustee of London City Airport’s Community Fund.
Most recently, Kitchen has been a philanthropy manager at a children’s health charity and the former head of fundraising at a Children’s Hospice.
Damien Egan – Kingswood
Egan grew up in Bristol and was born in Cork, Ireland. He has been the Mayor of Lewisham since 2018 and was re-elected in 2022.
First elected as a councillor on Lewisham Council in 2010. He served as the cabinet member for housing between 2014 to 2017. Egan ran as a Labour parliamentary candidate for Weston-Super-Mare in 2005 and Beckenham in 2010.
Egan was raised a Catholic but later converted to Judaism, the religion of his husband.
At the age of 21, Egan was a parish councillor for Downend and Staple Hill in Bristol.
This information has drawn from Polimapper’s Candidate Connect database. To identify and connect with this year’s parliamentary candidates, click here