Tracy Gilbert

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Tracy Gilbert
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament
for Edinburgh North and Leith
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 July 2024
Preceded byDeidre Brock
Majority7,268 (14.7%)
Personal details
CitizenshipBritish
Political partyLabour
Residence(s)Edinburgh, Scotland

Tracy Gilbert is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North & Leith since 2024.[1] She currently resides in Leith.

Early life and career

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Gilbert grew up in a mining town in Midlothian during the 1980s, and has spoken about how this has shaped her politics.[2]

Before entering Parliament, Gilbert was a Housing Officer and the Scottish Regional Secretary of the USDAW trade union.[2]

Parliamentary career

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At the 2024 general election, Gilbert was elected for the Edinburgh North & Leith constituency, becoming the first Labour MP to win the seat since 2010. Her result was part of a 'red wave' in Scotland, as the Scottish Labour Party won 37 seats, up from one seat in 2019.[3]

Tracy Gilbert serves as a member of the International Development Committee, a select committee of the House of Commons responsible for scrutinising the expenditure, administration, and policy of the international aid functions of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, as well as public bodies working with the Office on international aid and official development assistance.[4]

Following a ballot on 5 September 2024, the MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, Tracy Gilbert (Labour) introduced the Private Members’ Bill titled Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill in the 2024–25 Parliament. The Bill proposed that voters in Scotland and Wales — for devolved elections (local government, the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd) — should be able to apply online for their postal (and proxy) votes, aligning the process with that available for reserved UK elections. It completed passage through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, thereby becoming the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Act 2025.

All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs)

Gilbert is actively involved in several APPGs, including:

·      Tracy Gilbert serves as a Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Commercial Sexual Exploitation.[¹][²] The cross-party group brings together Members of Parliament, peers, experts, and campaigners to address all forms of commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution, sex trafficking, and the online facilitation of such activities.

As part of her role, Gilbert supports the group’s efforts to shape policy discussions, raise awareness, and promote legislative measures aimed at protecting victims and holding perpetrators to account.

·      Floating Offshore Wind APPG**: As Chair and Registered Contact, Gilbert leads this group, which aims to raise awareness of the opportunities presented by floating offshore wind in the UK and to increase parliamentarians' knowledge of the sector.

Through her roles in these committees and APPGs, Gilbert advocates for sustainable energy solutions and international development policies.

Campaigning Against Sexual Exploitation

Gilbert has emerged as a vocal advocate for tackling demand-driven sexual exploitation. In a Westminster Hall debate on 10 June 2025 titled “Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand,” she delivered a speech in which she:

- Highlighted misogynistic online reviews left by men purchasing sex, describing them as treating women “as subordinate sex objects” and equating their behaviour to reviewing “an Xbox game.” - Characterised prostitution as violence against women, asserting “there is no such thing as sex work,” and that paying for sex “is sexual exploitation and abuse.” - Pushed for demand-reduction laws, endorsing models like those in Sweden, France, and Ireland that criminalise buyers, decriminalise exploited individuals, and treat pimping websites as criminal enablers.[5]

Gilbert is also a member of the All‑Party Parliamentary Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation, where she works with colleagues to develop public policy that supports victims and addresses demand.[6]

At Labour's 2024 Autumn conference, Gilbert called for party members to lobby MPs against her party's plans to criminalise conversion therapy, which will ban practices aimed at changing or suppressing someone's gender identity or sexual orientation. Speaking at a fringe event organised by the gender critical Labour Women's Declaration group, she said her party's proposals were flawed, that many parliamentarians would be unaware of the pitfalls of the proposals and they would need educated through persuasive conversations.[7]

In 2024, Gilbert voted in favour of an assisted dying bill at second reading.[8]

Personal life

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Gilbert is openly LGBT+[9], but has argued against Gender self-identification for transgender people in a parliamentary debate about the topic.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Edinburgh North and Leith | General Election 2024 | Sky News". election.news.sky.com. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b "General Election 2024 – Tracy Gilbert Edinburgh North and Leith". The Edinburgh Reporter. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Election 2024 Results". BBC News. 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  4. ^ "International Development Committee - Membership - Committees - UK Parliament". committees.parliament.uk. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  5. ^ "Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. 11 May 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  6. ^ "Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. 11 May 2025. Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  7. ^ "Scottish Labour MP's concerns over conversion therapy ban". The Herald. 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Voting record for Tracy Gilbert - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
  9. ^ https://x.com/JamesAsser/status/1859719790413349332
  10. ^ "Gender Self-identification - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. 28 July 2025. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
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