Tony Vaughan KC is the Labour MP for Folkestone and Hythe, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Vaughan won 15,020 votes, representing 34.7% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Damian Collins, received 11,291 votes (26.1%), while the Reform UK candidate, Bill Wright, secured 10,685 votes (24.7%). Vaughan was duly elected with a majority of 3,729 votes.

The Folkestone and Hythe constituency is located in Kent, South East England. The seat was held by the Conservative Party from its creation in 1950 to 2024. Vaughan’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Folkestone and Hythe was Damian Collins of the Conservative Party, who held the seat from 2010 to 2024.

Michael Howard, who served as home secretary and leader of the Conservative Party, held the seat from 1983 to 2010.

Political Career

Vaughan is a member of the House of Commons justice select committee (since October 2025) – the committee responsible for examining the policies and spending of the Ministry of Justice and associated public bodies. Its remit includes the courts, legal aid, prisons, probation and the rule of law. It also advises on sentencing guidelines.

Vaughan is a member of the House of Commons petitions committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for considering e-petitions submitted on parliament’s petitions website and public (paper) petitions presented to the commons.

In May 2026, Vaughan was among the group of Labour MPs who publicly called for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to resign or set out a clear timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

In a statement, Vaughan said that Labour needed a second term in government, but “on the current trajectory, we won’t get there because we will lose and Farage will win”.

He said: “Some say we will look like the Tories if we change leader. But would they have done better if they’d kept Boris in despite Partygate? Or kept Truss after she crashed the economy?

“We have to get on with the job we were elected to do. But we are hamstrung if we continue to be led by the personification of earlier – serious – mistakes. We must give the public a Labour leader with a clear vision, conviction and the ability to inspire if we are to stand any chance of turning things around.

“I strongly believe that there must be an orderly transition of leadership well before the local elections next year. Otherwise, we are conceding defeat to Farage before we have even started.”

In February 2026, Vaughan led a Westminster Hall debate on the government’s proposed overhaul of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) guidelines in a Westminster Hall debate. The session, which was triggered by two public petitions signed by over 330,000 people, focused on Home Office proposals to replace the established five-year pathway to permanent residency (also known as indefinite leave to remain or settlement) with a 10-year baseline under an “earned settlement” model.

In the debate, Vaughan expressed criticism of the proposed reforms.

He stated: “The government are now considering doubling the wait for settlement from five years to 10, and up to 15 years for care workers. One of the most contentious elements of the consultation is that that will apply to people who are already here. I fundamentally oppose that rule change…

“We cannot talk about earning settlement if we keep moving the goalposts after the game has started. In my view, retrospectivity is un-British and undermines our sense of fair play.”

Vaughan concluded by urging the government to honour its “moral” debts.

Vaughan criticised the government’s asylum system reforms in November 2025, warning that the surrounding rhetoric “encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities.”

Vaughan is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for media freedom (vice chair), refugees (chair) and sovereign wealth funds.

Vaughan delivered his maiden speech on 24 July 2024 during a debate on education and opportunity.

In it, he said: “I am proud to be a Labour MP supporting this transformative Labour government who will pass the laws we need to turn Britain around and break down barriers to opportunity. The 35 bills in the king’s speech are just the start of that.

“As a barrister of 17 years’ standing, I particularly welcome the government’s reinstatement of the rule of law, which is the foundation of our constitution and democracy.

“The government’s decision to treat human smuggling and trafficking as a national security issue is long overdue. I have represented many victims of those criminal gangs, and I know that such are their sophistication and resources, that nothing short of the full force of our national security expertise will do. We must never forget that the victims themselves need justice.

“I am the son of one of the first Filipinos who migrated to the UK.”

He added: “My parents’ values of compassion and public service run through everything I do, and those are the values that will today, and every day, guide my actions, my decisions and my work in and across this House.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Vaughan was one of 175 Labour MPs who nominated Bridget Phillipson for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Phillipson, the serving education secretary, was widely viewed as the candidate favoured by Downing Street and the party leadership. She secured 175 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 80 required to reach the final ballot. She was ultimately defeated by Lucy Powell.

Factional identity and party tradition

Living Standards Coalition: Vaughan is a member of the Living Standards Coalition. Established in July 2025, the group’s stated aim was to develop and promote policy ideas that directly reduce everyday costs for households, particularly in areas such as food, energy, housing and childcare. In an open letter published upon its founding, addressed to Keir Starmer, the MPs wrote: “Our constituents will ask one question at the next election: did this Labour government make me better off?”

They added: “To raise living standards, we support government interventions that will help to increase incomes and lower costs.”

SERA: Vaughan has been listed as a member of the Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA) – a socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. Founded in 1973, SERA is the party’s official environmental campaign group. The organisation campaigns on a wide range of issues, including renewable energy, biodiversity, air quality and the transition to a green economy. SERA describes its member MPs as “champions for the environment”.

Labour Movement for Europe: Vaughan was endorsed by the Labour Movement for Europe (LME) in the 2024 general election. Founded in 1981, LME is a pro-European socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. It campaigns for a close relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The organisation refers to itself as the “home of the pro-Europeans in the Labour and trade union movement”.

Electoral reform

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Vaughan was one of over 70 Labour MPs who signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, calling on the government to establish a “national commission on electoral reform”. Tabled by Alex Sobel as chair of the fair elections APPG, the amendment aimed to force a rethink of the first past the post voting system.

At the time, Sobel described FPTP as “one of the biggest examples of a broken status quo in UK politics.” He invited colleagues to join this “common sense call to take a fresh look at how parliament is elected in modern Britain.”

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Vaughan was one of the over 120 Labour MPs to sign the reasoned amendment to the government’s flagship welfare bill which aimed to reject the proposed legislation.

The amendment, in the name of senior Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, objected to the fact that the bill had not been subject to a “formal consultation with disabled people” and that “250,000 people will be pushed into poverty” as a result of it, according to a government impact assessment.

The motion also called on the government to wait for the publication of the review into the Personal Independence Payment (Pip), helmed by minister Sir Stephen Timms, and the independent review, conducted by Sir Charlie Mayfield, into how the employment of disabled people could be boosted.

Welfare vote (July 2025): Vaughan voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

Assisted dying

Vaughan voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Vaughan voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Vaughan was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

Vaughan was born in March 1982 and grew up in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

Vaughan studied law at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He obtained a master’s degree in law from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Vaughan was called to the Bar in 2006 and practised at Garden Court Chambers and Doughty Street Chambers. His legal practice specialised in human rights law.

Before entering frontline politics, Vaughan travelled to Jamaica to work on death row cases with the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights in Kingston, aided by a grant from the European Commission. He also volunteered with Jamaicans for Justice on cases of police brutality.

Personal Life

Vaughan’s father is English and worked as an engineer. His mother, Aida “Inday” Langrimas, is from the Philippines, having arrived in the UK in 1973. She was born in 1943 during the Japanese occupation.

Vaughan is the first MP of Filipino descent to be elected to the House of Commons.

Trivia

Vaughan is the first Labour MP elected for the Folkestone and Hythe constituency. He is also the first MP of Filipino heritage.

In his 2024 maiden speech, Vaughan told the House: “I have the privilege of being the first Labour MP ever to have represented the constituency since its creation in 1950. Before that, the constituency covering its approximate area, Hythe, had returned Conservative MPs continuously since 1895.”

Vaughan is reportedly the only Labour MP, with the exception of Keir Starmer, to have earned the rank of KC through practice at the Bar.