Background
Rebecca has spent most of her working life in business, principally with Phillimore & Co, specialist publishers of local British history, with a catalogue that includes titles on Hadleigh, Thundersley, Canvey Island, and Daws Heath. At Phillimore, Rebecca started as a delivery driver and progressed through the company before joining the Board as Marketing Director in 1997, a position she held until the sale of the firm in 2007.
Having been an employer, Rebecca believes that the House of Commons needs people with practical business experience. Through using her negotiation skills, Rebecca has achieved a cross-party consensus on issues of local importance such as preventing the closure of the Deanes School and securing higher levels of Police funding.
Rebecca also has experience of local government having been a councillor for four years. She is strongly committed to localism and believes that voter turnout in local elections will be higher, and decisions will improve if local councils exert more power over the decisions that affect their residents. She has built and maintained effective relationships with local councillors, regardless of party affiliation, which facilitates great results for constituents on local issues.
Before being elected to represent Castle Point, Rebecca served as a Special Adviser to successive Shadow Secretaries of State for Trade and Industry, Health, Education, Transport, and Environment.
Parliament
Rebecca has been the Member of Parliament for Castle Point, representing the communities of South Benfleet, Hadleigh, Thundersley, Daws Heath and Canvey Island since 2010. Following the 2024 boundary changes, Rebecca also now represents the people of Bowers Gifford.
Within a few years of being elected, Rebecca was recognised as having the fourth highest voting record of any MP in the country and has maintained one of Parliament’s highest attendance rates ever since.
As a keen supporter of small businesses, Rebecca quickly became a member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee. A role she undertook for many years, frequently contributing to enquiries, advocating for small business relief and campaigning to reduce business rates.
Rebecca’s ministerial career began in 2016 when she was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and then the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. In 2017, Rebecca was delighted to be chosen to join the Government Whips’ Office and worked tirelessly to support the progress of Government legislation.
In 2022, Rebecca made history as the first woman to be appointed Comptroller of HM Household in its more than 600-year history. This is a senior position responsible for ensuring all Government legislation progresses through Parliament and into law. It also carries important ceremonial duties, including walking directly ahead of the monarch’s coffin at the State Funeral of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and attending the Coronation of King Charles III.
As a long time Eurosceptic, Rebecca worked hard in government to deliver the result of the 2016 EU Referendum and represent her constituents, over 70 percent of whom voted for the UK’s withdrawal. Rebecca voted in support of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement at every stage and in favour of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement reached with the EU in 2020. She also voted in favour of the Windsor Framework which replaced the broken Northern Ireland Protocol.
While in government, Rebecca also helped secure the safe passage of key domestic reforms including the world-leading Environment Act, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act to deliver safer streets, and the Nationality and Borders Act and Illegal Migration Act. She also supported measures to help families with the cost of living, including the Energy Price Guarantee and Cost of Living Payments. As the Whip responsible for the Domestic Abuse Act, Rebecca was proud to see greater protections for victims become law. She also ensured that all sanctions against Russia came into force, following its barbaric and illegal invasion of Ukraine.
APPGs
An All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) consists of Members of both Houses who pursue a particular topic or interest. To use the APPG title, a group must be open to all Members of both Houses, regardless of party affiliation, and must comply with specific rules. The Register of APPGs, which is maintained by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards can be viewed here.
Throughout her time in Westminster, Rebecca has been a member of numerous APPGs, including groups focusing on Visteon pensioners, fuel poverty and energy efficiency. Rebecca is currently an Officer of the following APPGs:
Children’s Parliament APPG
The APPG promotes children's meaningful participation in democracy, ensuring their voices are heard in Parliament. It provides a cross-party forum for engaging with children, educators, and youth organisations to strengthen democratic understanding and active citizenship.
APPG on Get
The aim is to raise awareness and promote the needs of women trapped in Jewish Religious marriage and to promote their interests. The APPG will seek to encourage the exchange of knowledge and understanding between Parliament and all relevant stakeholders and promote policies to address these needs.
APPG on Brain Tumours
The purpose of this group is to raise awareness of the issues facing the brain tumour community in order to improve research, diagnosis, information, support, treatment and care outcomes.
Following the tragic story of Danny Green, an 11-year-old Canvey resident who died from a brain tumour, Rebecca campaigned for more funding for Brain Tumour Research and was very pleased in 2018 when the Department of Health and Social Care and Cancer Research UK pledged an additional £45 million for the cause.
Rebecca was previously the Chair of the APPG on Brain Tumours.