Luke Evans (politician)

Dr Luke Evans MP
Official portrait, 2019
Member of Parliament for Bosworth
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 December 2019
Preceded by	David Tredinnick
Majority	26,278 (46.6%)
Personal details
Born	(1983-01-10) 10 January 1983 (age 39)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	University of Birmingham
Website	www.drlukeevans.org.uk

Dr Luke Morgan Evans^[1] (born 10 January 1983)^[2] is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bosworth in Leicestershire since the 2019 general election. He is also a general practitioner (GP).

Early life and medical career[]

Evans was born and brought up in Dorset; his father is a GP, and his mother was a nurse and then a school nurse. Evans began studying at the University of Birmingham Medical School in 2002, and qualified as a doctor in 2007. Evans worked in hospitals across the Midlands whilst he was a junior doctor.^[3]

In 2009, Evans returned to the University of Birmingham to teach anatomy, and began training to become a GP. Evans qualified as a GP in 2013, and worked as a GP full-time until he was elected in December 2019.^[3]

Political career[]

Evans stood as a Conservative candidate in Birmingham Edgbaston at the 2015 general election,^[4] and came second to the incumbent Labour MP, Gisela Stuart, who had represented the constituency since 1997.^[5]

He supported the UK leaving the EU in the 2016 UK EU membership referendum.^[6]

In September 2019, Evans beat constituency chairman and local councillor Peter Bedford in a ballot of around 100 Conservative Association members to be selected for the Bosworth seat.^[7]

He was elected at the 2019 general election, succeeding the retiring Conservative MP David Tredinnick.^[8] Prior to the December 2019 election, Bosworth was listed as the 51st safest Conservative seat.^[9]

In December 2020, Evans was awarded the joint Overall Newcomer award at the Patchwork Foundation’s MP of the Year Awards.^[3]

Parliamentary work[]

Evans has served as a member of the Health and Social Care Select Committee since March 2020.^[10]

Since being elected in 2019, Evans has campaigned on the issue of body image. In September 2020, Evans introduced a Private Member's Bill under the Ten Minute Rule, entitled the Digitally Altered Body Images Bill. If enacted into law, this bill would require advertisers to label images which have been digitally altered.^[11] In 2017, France introduced a similar law requiring any commercial image that had been altered to make someone look thinner to carry a warning, with Norway having also introduced similar legislation most recently.^[12]

In February 2021, Evans suggested that mental health practitioners should be stationed at coronavirus vaccine centres. In response, the then Vaccines Minister Nahdim Zahawi described it as an "excellent and thoughtful idea".^[13]

In October 2021, Evans launched a new campaign asking the Government to recognise the issue of body image for the first time in UK law, in the Online Safety Bill.^[14]

Evans formally recommended Twycross Zoo's project for a National Science and Conservation Centre in the Summer of 2021, which will be built in his constituency, to receive funding from the Levelling Up Scheme. In the Autumn 2021 Budget, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the bid had been successful, with £19.9 million allocated to Twycross Zoo.^[15]

Throughout Autumn 2021, Evans raised the issue of the 15-minute wait after receiving a Pfizer or Moderna coronavirus vaccine, asking the Government if the data could be reviewed. Evans said in Parliament on the 8 Dec that dropping the wait, if safe to do so, would “free up a huge amount of capacity when it comes to delivering the boosters”.^[16]

The Chief and Deputy Chief Medical Officers for the UK subsequently announced that having reviewed the data, it was safe to suspend the 15-minute wait in order to allow as many people as possible to receive a booster vaccine, and that retaining the wait presented more of a risk than dropping it.^[17]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed in Parliament on 15 Dec that the 15-minute wait would indeed be dropped.^[18] Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Stephen Barclay,said in Parliament on the 14 Dec that he would like to “pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Bosworth (Dr Evans), who, as a GP himself, highlighted the importance of addressing the 15-minute wait period to increase the flow of boosters—a decision that the chief medical officers across the UK have supported.”^[19]

In January 2022, Evans reintroduced his 10 Minute Rule Bill in Parliament, calling for images which feature digitally altered body proportions to be labelled in advertising.^[20]

Evans said in his previous role as a GP, he “saw first-hand how unrealistic adverts and images can have a real, tangible and dangerous impact on both men and women, from eating disorders and body confidence issues, to steroid use to bulk up” and said that in instances where an image has been edited for commercial purposes, or where somebody has edited an image they are being paid to post, “it is absolutely right that the image should carry a label to alert us to the image having been doctored.”^[20]

Personal life[]

Evans met Dr Charlotte March whilst they were both at medical school, and they married in May 2019; she is also a GP. They live in the Bosworth constituency with their two dogs. Evans is the eldest of three brothers, all of whom have gone into medicine.^[3]

In 2017, Evans became British Public Speaking Champion. He also played rugby during and after University, sang in a competitive Barbershop Chorus, was a Rotarian, and served as a Primary School governor.^[3]

Evans volunteered to help administer the coronavirus vaccine in Bosworth in the summer of 2021.^[3]

References[]

External links[]

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou

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