Gavin Shuker

Gavin Shuker (born 10 October 1981) is a British Labour Co-operative politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Luton South since 2010. Shuker successfully defended the seat after his predecessor Margaret Moran stood down following controversy over her expenses. Shuker serves as Chair of the Parliamentary Co-operative Party and in 2013 he was appointed as a Shadow International Development Minister.

He left the Opposition Frontbench in September 2015, with the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Party Leader. He cited "political differences" with Jeremy Corbyn.

Education and early life
A Lutonian, Shuker was educated at two state schools: Icknield Primary and Icknield High School. He was head boy at the latter. He then attended Luton Sixth Form College before going on acquire a degree in Social and Political Sciences at Girton College, Cambridge.

Shuker became leader and pastor of the City Life Church in Luton until he stood for parliament.

Political career
In May 2010 he won the seat in Luton South, beating the Conservative Nigel Huddleston, with the journalist and broadcaster Esther Rantzen a distant fourth. In October 2010, he was appointed PPS to the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Sadiq Khan, and was also appointed to the transport select committee. In March 2011 he was promoted again to become Shadow Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with responsibility for water and waste.

He is a member of the Christians on the Left.

In the October 2013 reshuffle, he was shifted to the Shadow International Development team as a Shadow Minister of State. His brief covered policy on Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, in addition to responsibility for policy on climate change, inequality, violence against women and girls and the post-2015 SDG agenda. As part of his Shadow Ministerial role, Shuker has visited Palestine, Pakistan, El Salvador and the United Nations at Geneva and New York.

Alongside his frontbench activities, Shuker has served as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade, Vice-Chair of the Polar Regions All-Party Parliamentary Group, Vice-Chair of the Christians in Parliament APPG and Vice-Chair of the Thameslink Route APPG. He is a member of other APPGs, including the group on Kashmir, East-West Rail and Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery.

In March 2014 under Shuker’s chairmanship, the APPG on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade published a new report on the legal state of prostitution in England and Wales. The result of a year-long consultation it was the first major cross-party report on the issue since the mid-1990s. The report called for a wholesale review of the existing legal settlement on prostitution, advocating consideration of a move towards the so-called 'Nordic model'. In the foreword to the APPG's report, Shuker wrote: "In short, we recommend a shift in the burden of criminality from those who are the most marginalised and vulnerable – to those that create the demand in the first place."

In March 2012, Shuker was one of three MPs who signed a letter sent to the Advertising Standards Authority asking it to reverse its decision to stop the Christian group "Healing on the Streets of Bath" from making explicit claims that prayer can heal. The letter called for the ASA to provide indisputable scientific evidence that such healing did not work.

Shuker has been a critic of right-wing nationalist groups such as Britain First, the English Defence League (EDL) and Liberty GB, condemning what he calls their repeated "targeting" of Luton. He has drawn attention to the high costs of policing demonstrations by the EDL, and has spoken at rallies opposing the EDL’s presence in Luton.

Following the May 2015 general election, Shuker announced his intention to support Liz Kendall's campaign to be Labour leader.

Political interests
His political interests include child poverty, student funding, transport policy, international development and debt reduction.

Personal life
He was married to Lucie, whom he met at the University of Cambridge but announced in 2016 that they had divorced. They have a daughter, born 16 June 2013.