Louis Stedman-Bryce
Stedman-Bryce in 2019
Member of the European Parliament
for Scotland
In office
2 July 2019  31 January 2020
Preceded byCatherine Stihler
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
BornDecember 1974 (age 49)
NationalityBritish
Political partyIndependent (since 2019; before 2019)
Other political
affiliations
Brexit (2019)
SpouseGavin Stedman-Bryce
OccupationCare home director and property investor

Louis Stedman-Bryce (born December 1974) is a British care home director, property investor and former politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Scotland from 2019 to 2020. He was elected as a Brexit Party candidate but left the party in November 2019 to sit as an independent.

Early life and career

Stedman-Bryce was born in December 1974 to a Jamaican father and British mother and grew up in Kent, England, before moving to Scotland.[1][2] A care home director and property investor, he is the co-founder of iNkfish Capital and a director of iNkfish Care and iNkfish Property Developments.[1][3][4]

Political career

Stedman-Bryce as a Brexit Party candidate

As a candidate for the Brexit Party, Stedman-Bryce was elected to the European Parliament for the Scotland constituency in the 2019 European Parliament election and took his seat on 2 July 2019, becoming the first ever black parliamentarian elected in Scotland.[5][6][7] On the left of the party, he stated he would never have joined the UK Independence Party and wanted the Brexit Party to be a "broad church".[8]

Stedman-Bryce was briefly his party's prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Glasgow North East in the 2019 general election. However, he stood down in protest at Nigel Farage's decision not to stand candidates in Conservative-held seats. Stedman-Bryce claimed this was enabling Boris Johnson to deliver a flawed Brexit withdrawal agreement.[9]

Days after standing down as a general election candidate, Stedman-Bryce left the Brexit Party altogether to sit as an independent MEP after taking issue with the party's candidate screening process.[10] He remained an MEP until the UK's withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020.[11]

During his time in the European Parliament, Stedman-Bryce was ranked the sixth highest earning MEP within the Brexit Party just behind Nigel Farage who was fifth.[12] He was the first and only gay black man to ever represent the United Kingdom in the European Parliament.[13]

Personal life

Stedman-Bryce is openly gay and married to his business partner Gavin.[14][15]

References

  1. 1 2 "Louis STEDMAN-BRYCE – Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  2. Boothman, John (19 May 2019). "'We are not selfish, right-wing or homophobic' says Louis Stedman-Bryce, Brexit Party candidate in European elections in Scotland". Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019 via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  3. McLaughlin, Mark (17 May 2019). "Louis Stedman-Bryce: Brexit Party 'would not stand in way' of independence vote". Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019 via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  4. Halliday, Josh (25 April 2019). "Brexit party: opera singer and ex-Loaded editor on candidate list". Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019 via www.theguardian.com.
  5. "The UK's European elections 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  6. "Key dates ahead". European Parliament. 20 May 2017. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  7. "Key dates ahead". BBC News. 22 May 2017. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  8. "'People don't trust politicians': Louis Stedman-Bryce on why he supports a no deal Brexit". Holyrood Website. 4 November 2019. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  9. "Scottish Brexit Party MEP with 'heavy heart' stands down in protest". www.scotsman.com. 13 November 2019. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  10. "MEP Louis Stedman-Bryce resigns from Brexit Party". Holyrood Website. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019.
  11. Barnes, Peter (5 February 2020). "What happens after Brexit?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  12. "These are all the highest-earning Brexit Party MEPs". Scram News. 27 September 2019. Archived from the original on 15 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  13. "The Brexit Party's only Scottish MEP just quit over party's selection of candidate who 'declared war' on LGBT community". PinkNews. 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  14. "Gay Brexit Party candidate: 'We're not all homophobic racists' · PinkNews". www.pinknews.co.uk. 25 April 2019. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  15. Clarke, Sarah (15 April 2019). "Scottish entrepreneurs launch live-in care service, creating 100 jobs". Home Care Insight. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.


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