West Derby MP Ian Byrne wins prestigious ‘MP of The Year’ award

This evening Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, was named MP of The Year at the prestigious Patchwork Foundation MP Awards.

At a ceremony in Westminster hosted and presented by Patchwork Patron, Mr Speaker, Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, Ian Byrne said he was “honoured and humbled” to win Overall MP of The Year, the foundation’s top honour.

The Patchwork Foundation’s annual MP of the Year Awards celebrate MPs who have actively worked with underrepresented and disadvantaged communities across the UK over the previous 12 months. The MPs are nominated by the public, with winners being selected by an independent panel of judges.

Ian Byrne MP was recognised for his ‘Right to Food’ campaign to end the food insecurity faced by 11 million people in the UK. He has also been championing greater access to justice for working class communities, funding a housing and benefits solicitor to work in his own office so they can do more than just signpost, and has also been a continuous supporter of workers and their rights during the Pandemic.

Celebrating the news, Ian Byrne MP said, “I am sincerely humbled and honoured to receive the Patchwork Foundation’s top award of “Overall MP of the Year Award for the year 2021” as nominated by the public and selected by an independent panel.

As a newly elected MP for Liverpool West Derby in December 2019 I pledged to be a campaigning MP for the constituency and to “take my constituents with me” to Westminster every day I went into work.

“I would like to think that receiving this award is an acknowledgment that I stuck to my word and that the efforts of my team and I have been well-received in the constituency and beyond.

I am very fortunate to have a small but incredibly dedicated, committed and capable team working with me - and this honour is certainly a direct reflection of their efforts too. I would like to take this opportunity to send a heartfelt thanks to each member of the team. It is the strength of our collective endeavours which brings us here tonight.

But we cannot and we will not be sitting back. There is always work to be done in politics and what drove me to enter politics drives me still. We will not stop fighting for a more equal and just society.

We will continue the fight for a legal Right To Food for everybody and to have education about the Real Truth of Hillsborough and the cover-up taught to schoolchildren up and down the country – these being just two of the campaigns we are currently running.

I will continue to represent the people of West Derby to the very best of my ability every single day and I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to everyone who has voted for me to receive this honour.“

Of the Awards, Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP, Leader of the Opposition, said:

'Congratulations to all the winners and nominees of the MP of the Year Awards. Your work to empower young people from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds to engage with politics is crucial. Encouraging the next generation to participate in the political system and affect positive change in society is vital for a healthy democracy. Patchwork Foundation is creating a space to make politics more accessible, and I credit you for the exemplary impact you are having.'

Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, Speaker of the House of Commons, said: “It is fantastic to see the 9th annual MP of the Year Awards return to Speaker's House, to celebrate the hard work of MPs throughout 2021 - to support, champion, and engage under-represented communities. “These awards are a great way to celebrate and shout about the work so many of our MPs do on behalf of their constituents across the country.”

Imran Sanaullah MBE, CEO, Patchwork Foundation said “It’s been a pleasure to be back in Speaker’s House for the first in-person MP of the Year Awards since 2018. After a challenging few years, celebrating all the amazing work MPs have been doing across the country to champion, engage and represent underrepresented communities has been enormously uplifting. It also demonstrates how important this work is, as we seek to address the divisions in our society and lack of trust in our politics. All of us at the Patchwork Foundation would like to congratulate and thank the winning MPs for their service and for helping us to create a democracy that is as representative and inclusive as possible.”

The Ceremony was attended by Members of Parliament, corporate partners, young people from across the country and members of the public. Participants and graduates of the Patchwork Foundation’s programmes were also in attendance, several of whom took part in a panel discussion about why diversity in politics is so important and how politics can be made more accessible to young people.

Winners included Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (Newcomer MP of the Year), Zarah Sultana MP (Young People’s MP of the Year), Alan Mak MP (Conservative MP of the Year), Abena Oppong-Asare MP (Labour MP of the Year), and Dr Lisa Cameron (Other Party MP of the Year). The Judge’s Special Recognition Award was also given in memory of the late Sir David Amess.