Peter Kyle

Peter Kyle (born 9 September 1970) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology since 2023.

He moved to Brighton and Hove in 1996.

He worked as an aid worker in Eastern Europe and the Balkans helping young people whose lives had been affected by the political instability created by war.

In 2006, Kyle became a Cabinet Office special advisor focusing on social exclusion policy.

From 2007 to 2013, he was deputy chief executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO).

For eight years he was in a relationship with Czech man Vlastimil Tiser, until Tiser's death in 2012.

In 2013, he became chief executive of Working for Youth, a newly formed charity focusing on helping unemployed youth.

A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hove since 2015.

In the 2015 election, Kyle was elected with a majority of 1,236, increasing that to 18,757 in the 2017 election and holding the seat in 2019 with a slightly reduced majority of 17,044.

Kyle backed Liz Kendall in the 2015 Labour leadership election, and supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.

He was in favour of the UK remaining in the European Union.

He sat on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee between 2016 and 2020, where he questioned Mike Ashley, boss of Sports Direct, over poor working practices in his warehouses.

Ashley accused Kyle of making "defamatory comments" against him and called for the MP to stand down from the committee.

Kyle is the co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Southern Rail.

He campaigned for remain during the EU membership referendum, 2016.

He has called for the voting age to be lowered to 16 and put forward his own bill on the subject in 2017.

In June 2018, he said "Brexit is a big deal but it's not a done deal".

In March 2019, alongside fellow Labour MP Phil Wilson, Kyle put forward an amendment to Theresa May's Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

Dubbed the "Kyle-Wilson" amendment, it aimed to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Bill on the condition that the deal on offer would go back to the British people through a confirmatory vote.

Whilst failing to pass twice in the House of Commons, it came closest to a majority; only 12 votes short on its second attempt.

Both Kyle and Wilson signalled that they would bring back the amendment if Boris Johnson was to return with a Brexit deal in October 2019.

In February 2019, he drafted an amendment to accept the government's Brexit deal on the basis it would go to a public vote as a second referendum.

Alongside deputy leader Tom Watson, he advocated for this position to become Labour policy.

Following Labour's defeat in the 2019 general election, Kyle urged Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to resign, saying that the loss was not related to Labour's position on Brexit but rather to Corbyn's incompetent leadership.

He has championed apprenticeships, pledging to create 1,000 apprenticeships in 1,000 days in co-operation with the council and via the creation of a Greater Brighton Employer Skills Task Force.

A former charity sector executive, he previously served as a Shadow Justice Minister from 2020 to 2021 and a Shadow Education Minister in 2021.

Kyle grew up in West Sussex and was educated at Felpham Comprehensive School (now Felpham Community College), near Bognor Regis in West Sussex, where he had dyslexia and left school, in his own words, "without any usable qualifications".

By the age of 25, he was accepted on his third attempt to become a student at the University of Sussex, where he gained a degree in geography, international development and environmental studies, and later a doctorate in community development.

In September 2020, Kyle was appointed a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel.

In April 2020, he became the Shadow Minister for Victims and Youth Justice.

He has campaigned on the issue of 'sex for rent' and demanded a change to the law for landlords who engage in sexual exploitation of tenants.

In February 2021, Kyle presented a bill for victims to Parliament which had the aims of:

In a minor Labour reshuffle in May 2021, Kyle was promoted to succeed Wes Streeting as the Shadow Minister for Schools.

He was appointed Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary in the November 2021 British Shadow cabinet reshuffle.

He endorsed Jess Phillips in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

In September 2022, he spoke in favour of Labour accepting Brexit and presenting a "positive vision for a better Britain" outside of the European Union.

He was chair of governors of Brighton Aldridge Community Academy.

Kyle has dyslexia.

He is openly gay.