The Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown has defended his record since being elected and asked party members whether they have confidence in him as he considers standing for reselection.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle won the constituency two years ago, having been picked as a candidate by Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) rather than the local party.
After party bosses gave sitting MPs two weeks to decide whether they wanted to stand again, Mr Russell-Moyle, 32, emailed party members.
He wrote: “For more than two years now I have had the privilege to represent Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven as the Labour MP.
“On Monday I received an email from the general secretary asking me if I would like to be the Labour candidate at the next general election.
“In 2017 in the snap general election I was imposed by the NEC as your candidate in the election with grassroots members not having a say in my selection. I pledged that I would not restand unless I had the confidence of the members.
“Using an anonymous third party voting organisation, members will be emailed with a poll asking if they support me staying on as the Labour candidate with the results being given to the CLP (Constituency Labour Party) executive directly.
“I want to make sure that you as my constituency party have faith in me to continue as your representative and I will only confirm my candidature with your support. This doesn’t reduce your ability to hold me to account at the branch level in the current selection process.
“We have handled 1,965 pieces of individual casework resulting in 14,000 emails. We have managed to stop deportations, got people the houses they need and helped hundreds of people who have had their disability benefits slashed by this government.
“The top issues remain Personal Independent Payment appeals and housing, particularly overcrowding, disrepair and the council allocation policy.
“I have employed an amazing caseworker team who many of you will know and want in this mail to outline some of my other parliamentary activities you might be less familiar with.
“I have fought tirelessly in the Labour Party and in Parliament for remaining in the European Union. Fundamentally I see myself as a European and I have refused to sit back while the Farages of the world continue to sell the right-wing con that is Brexit.
“I am a founding member of the Love Socialism Hate Brexit parliamentary group who are supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and the socialist ideals of the Labour Party but who are also passionate about remaining in the European Union speaking at events across the country on these matters.
“In Parliament I have voted at every opportunity for a second referendum and to block no-deal.
“The leadership of the party is behind a second referendum, we have whipped and put down motions to get a second referendum four times and I believe in the coming weeks we will see the change in rhetoric required for us to win a general election and a second referendum on the issue. Either way I will keep speaking up for Jeremy and for Europe.
“When I arrived in Parliament I was elected onto the International Development Committee and the Committees of Arms Export Control. I’ve been privileged to have now contributed to 11 reports including on Bangladesh, Burma and the Rohingya Crisis, UK Aid on Combating Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Being on the arms control committee, it’s my responsibility to hold the government to account for the flawed licensing processes.
“A UN report has estimated as many as 260,000 people could die in Yemen by the of the year. After five years of brutal conflict the government still thinks it’s morally acceptable to continue selling arms to Saudi which are causing such devastation.
“I have led activities in the Parliament to hold the government to account and was in the Court of Appeal last week to hear the courts finally condemn the process the government uses to sell the arms.
“I have also spoken about how our arms sales are harming development around the world from the Philippines to Honduras and written about our broken arms system. I am not going to stop highlighting the issues until the government stops selling theses weapons of war.
“At the end of last year I was also able to share a very personal moment with the world. I was able to tell the world that I was HIV positive. I did this for a range of reasons but mostly because I wanted to be truthful to my constituents and be able to act a role model to others who live with HIV.
“I want to thank so many of you for reaching out after my announcement and for the kind messages of support to shared.
“Since my announcement I have been holding the government to account over their woeful record on the roll out of the preventative medication PrEP and battle that is still not finished yet.
“As I have a background as a youth worker I have lead the All Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs and its groundbreaking report on the failure of youth provision for our young people.
“I introduced a new bill for youth work in England and we have managed to get the government to agree a change of policy although we still fight for the resources we need.
“Housing remains on the of the key areas in the constituency and last year I introduced a new bill to protect deposits and provide free legal aid on all housing issues as well as provide funding for renters unions like Acorn.
“I’ve been inspired by the actions of Acorn locally and wanted to support them in Parliament. While supported by Acorn and Generation rent I was condemned by the Landlords press for this.
“My promise to you is I will not be deterred by vested interests and I will continue to support local activists and the community in seeking justice.
“My victory in 2017 belonged to all of you – those who knocked on doors, made calls or just simply paid their dues and convinced their family and friends.
“Since then we have continued the fight, holding the council and winning for the first time ever the mayoralty in Peacehaven and Telscombe.
“We are Labour because we care about improving the lives of the many. I hope I have done that here in Brighton through casework and in parliament with my votes.
“We are going to face an almighty battle against Jeremy this next election and I am up for the fight because I believe passionately we need to see him election.
“I still have work to do locally and in Parliament so I am asking for your support as the Labour candidate at the next general election.
“In the next few days you will receive a ballot online for you to decide if I reapply to be your candidate. I hope that I can trust on your support.”
Lloyd Russell-Moyle has won no fans with his antics and pranks in the House of Commons and the profound lack of respect he showed for the instiution and the peopled elected to it. He is not popular among his peers.
This man is a disgrace for a local MP and has no interest in local matters. Arms to Saudi Arabia and youth rights (mainly European youth rights, without responsibilities of course) are not immediately relevant to mainstream locals. Dave is totally right, in that Russell-Moyle has behaved disgracefully and like a silly child in Parliament and has given Brighton a bad name in the process. I didn’t agree with a lot of views of the previous MP, Simon Kirby, but he did get involved in issues that matter to average residents, unlike Russell-Moyle.
I am not and never have been a Labour supporter (especially of the present Labour), but I do admire Peter Kyle in Hove (not in my constituency unfortunately) and also Caroline Lucas in Pavilion, both of whom are not of my political persuasion, but they are tuned in to and care for very local issues and fight for basic constituency matters, unlike Russell-Moyle, who has no idea of what is going on at the average resident’s level, and couldn’t care less.
I see that he covered himself in glory again (not!) on the suspension of Parliament in the early hours of this morning. As if the behaviour of many Opposition MPs had not been extremely childish and disgraceful already, with the stupid partisan singing and placards, it seems that he threw himself across the Speaker’s lap to try to prevent Bercow getting up and doing the ceremonials for the proroguing. I have no time whatsoever for biased Bercow, but at least in the past, when he has been doing his normal job properly, he has admonished Russell-Moyle for his stupid behaviour, quite rightly so.
I am totally ashamed that this person is my MP and, whilst I am not a Labour Supporter, I would at least like an MP, of whatever party, who actually gets properly involved in local issues and behaves with dignity in Parliament.
Only yesterday he was on Twitter banging on about arms sales to Saudi Arabia yet again – I would suggest this is not his main job, and we taxpayers pay him a salary. His paid job is to represent the residents of Kemptown and I don’t think any of us are exporting arms to Saudi Arabia.
Whatever role the local Labour Party might play in selecting their candidate for the next General Election, there surely has to be someone better than LRM!