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Alberto Costa (British politician)

Alberto Castrenze Costa[2] (born 13 November 1971) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Leicestershire since 2015.[3] He served as Shadow Solicitor General from July to November 2024.[4]

Alberto Costa
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Chair of the Standards Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 September 2024
Preceded byHarriet Harman
Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office
19 July 2024 – 6 November 2024
LeaderRishi Sunak
Preceded byKarl Turner
Succeeded byHelen Grant
Member of Parliament
for South Leicestershire
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byAndrew Robathan
Majority5,508 (10.8%)
Personal details
Born
Alberto Castrenze Costa

(1971-11-13) 13 November 1971 (age 53)
England[1]
Political partyConservative
Alma materUniversity of Glasgow
Websitealbertocosta.org.uk Edit this at Wikidata

Early life and career

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Alberto Costa was born on 13 November 1971 in England[5] to Italian parents who have lived in Scotland for 50 years.[6][7] He grew up in Bishopbriggs attending St Helens Roman Catholic Primary School[8] and then Turnbull High School, before studying at 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.[9]

Parliamentary career

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At the 2010 general election, Costa stood as the Conservative candidate in Angus, coming second with 30.9% of the vote behind the incumbent SNP MP Mike Weir.[10]

Following his 2010 defeat in Angus, Costa was in 2015 "rewarded with a seat he ought to triumph in",[11] namely South Leicestershire. He was elected to Parliament at the 2015 general election as that constituency's MP with 53.2% of the vote and a majority of 16,824.[12]

Costa was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 EU referendum,[13] although he went on to vote with the government on all subsequent Parliamentary Bills regarding Brexit.[14]

At the snap 2017 general election, Costa was re-elected as MP for South Leicestershire with an increased vote share of 61.4% and an increased majority of 18,631.[15]

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.[16] Pitchfork was released from prison on 1 September 2021 before being recalled to prison weeks later for breaching his licence conditions.[17] 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, despite which Pitchfork was, in June 2023, granted parole a second time, a decision that was later reversed.

On 27 February 2019, he resigned 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.[18] It was later passed unopposed, approved 'on the nod' by the Commons.[19]

In 2019, Costa sent a survey to 11,000 residents in villages close to the site of the proposed Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange, fewer than 1 in 5 of which were completed and returned.[20] In February 2020, he held a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament to discuss the plans and local concerns in more detail, in which three MPs including Costa participated.[21] In June 2022 he held a further debate in Parliament on the proposals.[22]

At the 2019 general election, Costa was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 64% and an increased majority of 24,004.[23]

Costa 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.[24] In January 2020 he welcomed £3 million improvements put forward by National Highways to improve safety.[25]

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,[26] the hospital was then reopened as a vaccination hub in February 2021.[27] In June 2021, Costa asked the then Health Secretary Sajid Javid for his help in keeping the Feilding Palmer Hospital in Lutterworth open, but failed as the hospital was shut.[28]

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.[29]

Linked to his work as Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Microplastics, Costa touted a Ten Minute Rule Bill in Parliament on 30 November 2021 (the 'Microplastic Filters (Washing Machine) Bill') – the Bill failed to progress beyond its first reading.[30][31]

At the 2024 general election, Costa was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 35.6% and a decreased majority of 5,506.[32]

On 11 September 2024, Costa was elected Chair of the Standards Committee.[33]

References

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  1. ^ "Alberto gives his Maiden Speech to the House of Commons". 2 June 2015.
  2. ^ "No. 61230". The London Gazette. 18 May 2015. p. 9123.
  3. ^ "Leicestershire South Parliamentary constituency". Election 2017. BBC News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  4. ^ "Conservative Party announces interim Opposition Front Bench". policymogul.com. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Alberto gives his Maiden Speech to the House of Commons". 2 June 2015.
  6. ^ Rhodes, Mandy (3 March 2019). "It cost him his job but MP Alberto Costa revealed a common decency despite Brexit". The Sunday Post. DC Thomson Media. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  7. ^ "British MP of Italian origin makes plea to PM for parents' right to remain". New Europeans. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  8. ^ http://www.st-helens.e-dunbarton.sch.uk/ [bare URL]
  9. ^ Simmons, Richard (10 April 2015). "Meet the lawyers standing for Parliament". The Lawyer. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. ^ "The Lawyer".
  12. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  14. ^ https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-01-15/division/B975E889-89F5-42D3-9C18-7562AFD1977C/EuropeanUnion(Withdrawal)Act?outputType=Party#party-yesConservativeAyes [bare URL]
  15. ^ "General Election 2017: South Leicestershire". Daily Express. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  16. ^ Fagan, Ciaran (11 January 2018). "This is all we're allowed to know about Pitchfork's time in jail". LeicestershireLive. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Double child killer Colin Pitchfork sent back to prison". BBC News. 19 November 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  18. ^ O'Carroll, Lisa (27 February 2019). "Confusion reigns over Brexit amendment as Tory MP sacked". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  19. ^ Sparrow, Andrew (27 February 2019). "Hardline Tory Brexiters split as MPs overwhelmingly back move to allow vote to extend article 50 – Politics live". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  20. ^ Dawson, Nick (30 August 2019). "Most residents oppose Hinckley rail hub plans, survey finds". LeicestershireLive. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  21. ^ "Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 11 February 2020. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  22. ^ "Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 14 June 2022. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  23. ^ "Leicestershire South Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  24. ^ Dawson, Nick (20 November 2021). "Call for action on A5 crash blackspot after another death". LeicestershireLive. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  25. ^ Jones, Chris (20 January 2020). "Highways England to make £3m safety improvements to A5". LeicestershireLive. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  26. ^ "Feilding Palmer Hospital". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 12 January 2021. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  27. ^ "Lutterworth hospital's reopening praised by local MP". InYourArea.co.uk. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  28. ^ "Covid-19 Update". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 28 June 2021. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  29. ^ Patel, Asha (10 November 2021). "MP says medical cannabis should be prescribed more freely". LeicestershireLive. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  30. ^ "Microplastic Filters (Washing Machines) Bill". Conservative Environment Network. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  31. ^ Dunphy, Finvola (1 December 2021). "Washing machines could help tackle microplastics, says MP". LeicestershireLive. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  32. ^ "South Leicestershire – General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  33. ^ https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/290/committee-on-standards/news/202839/alberto-costa-elected-as-chair-of-the-committee-on-standards/
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alberto Costa.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for South Leicestershire
2015–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales
2024 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the Standards Committee
2024–present 		Incumbent
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