Victoria Atkins was born on 22 March 1976 in London,the daughter of Sir Robert Atkins,[1] a former Conservative MP and MEP,and Lady (Dulcie) Atkins,a Conservative councillor and mayor. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of three.[7]
For the 2015 election,she was on the shortlist for the Tonbridge and Malling seat,along with Edward Argar,Chris Philp,and Tom Tugendhat. Tugendhat won the selection;Atkins and her other opponents were selected for seats elsewhere in time for the same election.[14]
Parliamentary career
Atkins was selected over three others in July 2014 as the Conservative candidate for Louth and Horncastle,at a meeting (referred to as an "Open Primary" by the party)[15] of around 200 local party members in Spilsby. It is a safe Conservative seat;all areas of it have been continuously held by the party since 1924.[16][17]
The retiring MP was Sir Peter Tapsell,who at that time was Father of the House of Commons,having served the area for nearly 50 years in addition to his previous Parliamentary service. Former Prime Minister John Major (who first entered the House of Commons at the same time as her father) supported her first parliamentary election campaign,and has known her since she was a young girl.[18]
1st term (2015–2017)
Atkins was elected as the MP for Louth and Horncastle at the 2015 general election,winning 51.2% of the vote and with a majority of 14,977 votes.[19][20] After being elected,Atkins was appointed as a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee in July 2015.[21]
Atkins supported the UK remaining within the EU before the 2016 EU membership referendum,but consistently voted in favour of a referendum being held.[22][23] After the referendum,she voted in favour of triggering Article 50 in February 2017.[24][25]
2nd term (2017–2019)
At the snap 2017 general election,she retained the seat with 63.9% of the votes and an increased majority,of 19,641.[26]
In the House of Commons she has sat on the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill (Joint Committee) and the Home Affairs Committee.[29]
In April 2018,Atkins said she did not know the number of police officers in the country during an 'awkward' interview with Nick Ferrari on the LBC radio station. Ferrari informed her that the number was 123,142. This followed the leak of a Home Office report that concluded cuts to police numbers had "likely contributed" to a rise in serious violent crime.[30] The following month,she voluntarily recused herself from speaking on drug policy in relation to cannabis after it was reported that her husband Paul Kenward's company,British Sugar,grows under permit a non‐psychoactive variety of cannabis which is used in children's epilepsy medicine.[31]
In June 2019,Atkins vetoed the appointment of Niamh Eastwood,the director of Release,to the independent advisory NGO Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). She did so as Eastwood had previously been critical of the Home Office's drug policy on social media,including criticising a letter by Atkins in which she opposed the introduction of drug consumption rooms. Eastwood had previously been approved by a Home Office advisory assessment panel. A subject access request by Eastwood revealed that ministers vetted social media profiles of appointments to public bodies including references to "Windrush","the government","Brexit",and "anything diversity-related".[32] In October 2019,Professor Alex Stevens,a criminal justice expert,resigned from the ACMD over alleged "political vetting" of panel members by the government.[33]Kit Malthouse,the Minister for Policing,replaced Atkins as the minister responsible for the government's drug policy on 7 October.[34]
3rd term (2019–2024)
In the 2019 general election,Atkins was re-elected for Louth and Horncastle with an increased majority of 28,868,obtaining 72.7% of the vote[35] from a turnout of 65.7%.
At the 2024 general election,Atkins was again re-elected,with a decreased vote share of 37.5%,from a turnout of 61% and a decreased majority of 5,506. She was voted for by 22.7% of the electorate.[41]
During a debate in the House of Commons on 19 July 2024,Atkins was admonished by Acting Deputy Speaker Sir Christopher Chope for behaving "abominably" after attempting to intervene from the despatch box as Environment SecretarySteve Reed delivered a ministerial statement. Her spokesperson defended her actions,saying Reed had failed to answer her questions.[43][44]
In November 2024,Atkins criticized the construction of overground pylons in her constituency,arguing instead that they should be built underground. Prime Minister Starmer defended them being built overground,saying it was necessary to provide cheap access to energy. Overground pylons between Grimsby to Walpole in Norfolk was estimated to cost about £1bn whereas it would cost £6.5bn to put them underground and £4.3bn for an offshore subsea cable.[45]
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