Peter Kyle


Peter Kyle is a British Labour Party politician and former charity sector executive. He has been the Member of Parliament for Hove since the May 2015 general election.. Since April 2020, he has served as the Shadow Minister for Victims and Youth Justice.

Early life and career

Kyle grew up in West Sussex and moved to Brighton and Hove in 1996. He later gained a doctorate in community development from the University of Sussex. In 2006, he became a Cabinet Office special advisor focusing on social exclusion policy.
He worked as an aid worker in Eastern Europe and the Balkans helping young people whose lives had been affected by the political instability created by war.
From 2007 to 2013, he was deputy chief executive of ACEVO. In 2013, he became chief executive of Working for Youth, a newly formed charity focusing on helping unemployed youth.

Parliamentary career

In the 2015 election, Kyle was elected with a majority of 1,236, increasing that to 18,757 in the 2017 election and holding the seat in 2019 with a slightly reduced majority of 17,044.

Positions and votes

He sits on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee where he questioned Mike Ashley, boss of Sports Direct, over poor working practices in his warehouses. Ashley accused Kyle of making "defamatory comments" against him and called for the MP to stand down from the committee.
He is the co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Southern Rail.
Kyle campaigned for remain during the EU membership referendum, 2016. In June 2018, he said "Brexit is a big deal but it's not a done deal". In March 2019, alongside fellow Labour MP Phil Wilson, Kyle put forward an amendment to Theresa May's Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. Dubbed the "Kyle-Wilson" amendment, it aimed to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill on the condition that the deal on offer would go back to the British people through a confirmatory vote. Whilst failing to pass twice in the House of Commons, it came closest to a majority; only 12 votes short on its second attempt. Both Kyle and Wilson signalled that they would bring back the amendment if Boris Johnson was to return with a Brexit deal in October 2019.

Other views

Kyle backed Liz Kendall in the 2015 Labour leadership election. He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.
Kyle has championed apprenticeships, pledging to create 1,000 apprenticeships in 1,000 days in co-operation with the council and via the creation of a Greater Brighton Employer Skills Task Force.
Peter Kyle has called for the voting age to be lowered to 16 and put forward his own bill on the subject in 2017.
Kyle endorsed Jess Phillips in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

Personal life

He was chair of governors of Brighton Aldridge Community Academy.
Kyle has dyslexia.
In 2016, Kyle posed with other LGBT members of commons as he is gay.