Geraint Richard Davies (born 3 May 1960) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Swansea West from 2010 to 2024. He was elected as a member of the Labour and Co-operative Party, but was suspended from the party in 2023 and sat the remainder of his term as an independent.
Previously, Davies was the Labour MP for Croydon Central from 1997 to 2005. He had also served as the Leader of Croydon London Borough Council.
Early life and career Geraint Davies was born on 3 May 1960 in Chester. His family comes from west Wales; his civil servant father is from Aberystwyth and his mother's family are from Swansea. He was brought up in Cardiff where he attended Llanishen High School, before studying Mathematics followed by Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Jesus College, Oxford where he was Junior Common Room President."Dod's Guide to the General Election, June 2001", Vacher Dod Publishing, 2001, p. 92.
Davies joined Unilever as a Group Product Manager in 1982, before joining Colgate-Palmolive as a Marketing Manager. He then started his own companies including Pure Crete Ltd. and Equity Creative Ltd.
Political career Davies has been active in the Labour Party since 1982, being Assistant Secretary for Croydon North East Labour Party and Chair of Croydon Central Constituency Labour Party. He was a member of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs,"The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1987" (Times Books, 1987), p. 88. and later the Manufacturing, Science and Finance union."The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1992" (Times Books, 1992), p. 87. He has been a member of the Co-operative Party since 1984 and joined the GMB in 1985. Davies became Director of Pure Crete Ltd, described as a 'Green tour operator', in 1989.
Davies was elected to Croydon London Borough Council in 1986 representing New Addington ward, retaining the seat in 1990 and 1994. He became Chairman of the Housing Committee when Labour won control of Croydon London Borough Council in 1994.
He was elected Leader of the Council in 1996, resigning from the role and his council seat in 1997. He was also chair of the Housing Committee of the London Boroughs Association, the predecessor of London Councils, from 1996 to 1997.
Parliamentary career At the 1987 general election, Davies stood as the Labour Party candidate in Croydon South, coming third with 9.8% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MP William Clark and the Liberal Party candidate.
Davies stood in Croydon Central at the 1992 general election, coming second with 31.3% of the vote behind the Conservative candidate Paul Beresford.
MP for Croydon Central At the 1997 general election, Davies was elected to Parliament as MP for Croydon Central with 45.6% of the vote and a majority of 3,897. He was re-elected as MP for Croydon Central at the 2001 general election with an increased vote share of 47.2% and an increased majority of 3,984.
Davies was honoured with a national award, the Royal Humane Society's resuscitation certificate, in December 1998 for saving a man's life in Mumbles, Swansea whilst on holiday that summer.
In April 1999, on the 900th Anniversary of St John Ambulance, launched a parliamentary campaign to incorporate first aid training into the National Curriculum with his early day motion - "FIRST AID TRAINING IN SCHOOLS" that was supported by 265 MPs.
In April 2001 Davies presented the "Crystal Palace Bill" to transfer the Crystal Palace and Park's control from the London Borough of Bromley to the Greater London Authority to restrict its commercial uses and safeguard it as a recreational resource for all Londoners.
In May 2002 Davies presented the "Regulation of Child Care Providers Bill" in the aftermath of the eight-month-old son of two of his constituents being shaken to death by their childminder. His bill sought to set up a national mandatory register of nannies in England and Wales; to prevent childminders using corporal punishment on children in their care; to prevent child punishment through restricting parental contact, the consumption or deprivation of food or drink, inappropriate clothing, administering or withholding medication or medical treatment, depriving a child of sleep, undertaking intimate physical examination or withholding a disabled child's equipment. Two days later, Tony Blair responded to a question from Geraint Davies, by giving his support for such a Bill proposing the setting up of a national register of nannies and prohibiting childminders in England from being allowed to smack the children in their care. Following this bill Davies was appointed as NSPCC Parliamentary Ambassador in 2003. In July 2003 Davies introduced the "Physical Punishment of Children (Prohibition) Bill" which would make it illegal for parents to physically punish children by striking them across the head, hitting them with an implement or shaking them. The Bill aimed to reduce child death from physical chastisement at a time that one-fifth of children were hit with implements and the Government had resisted calls to ban smacking. Davies’ changes were subsequently adopted under Section 58 of the Children Act 2004.
In May 2004 Davies’ proposed his "Regulation of Hormone Disrupting Chemicals Bill" which sought to impose precautionary bans on chemicals where there was evidence of then being dangerous to human health or to the environment and where a safer alternative existed. The Bill was supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature UK and was enacted by the EU in its REACH directive September 2006.
In June 2004 Davies published his Healthy Children Manifesto to ban junk food advertising to children and regulate food labeling. In January 2005 Davies published the "School Meals and Nutrition Bill" which sought to include nutrition in OFSTED inspections of schools and to ban unhealthy vending in schools. The Bill also sought to restrict the whereabouts of pupils during school hours to safeguard their access to healthy food.
On 7 July 2003 Davies launched the parliamentary campaign to repatriate British detainees in Guantanamo Bay to face a fair trial in Britain with his Early Day Motion 1539 signed by 264 MPs. He then raised the case of his constituent detainee Feroz Abbasi on 9 July at Prime Minister's Questions asking Tony Blair "to have all the evidence against Feroz Abbasi supplied to the Government, so that we may press charges and apply for an extradition order under our terrorism legislation? Feroz Abbasi could then face a fair trial and be punished if guilty, and the rule of law and human rights would prevail." He continued the high-profile campaign for the release of British detainees in Guantanamo Bay, with Feroz Abbasi and Moazzam Begg finally released on 25 January 2005.
For the year 2004–05, Davies' MP costs, including staff and offices in Parliament and his constituency, were the highest in the country. Davies said "this shows I was one of the most hard-working MPs in Britain." According to the Daily Telegraph this included over £4,000 on a central London flat 12 miles from his constituency home and taxi expenses he should not have been entitled to claim because of his second home. He also spent £38,750 on postage which he claimed were the result of his constituency Croydon Central being virtually the biggest and, due to the Lunar House Home Office Immigration Department, arguably the busiest in the UK. "Somebody has got to do the most work. I am proud it was me", he said. Davies repaid £156 used to post his annual report calendars by prepaid envelopes instead of stamps. Davies spent £2,285 on his kitchen and £1,500 on his living room at taxpayers' expense.
At the 2005 general election, Davies lost his seat to the Conservative candidate Andrew Pelling, coming second with 40.6% of the vote.
MP for Swansea West Davies was elected to Parliament at the 2010 general election as MP for Swansea West with 34.7% of the vote and a majority of 504.Swansea West BBC Election -Swansea West
In July 2010 Davies introduced the Credit Regulation (Child Pornography) Bill to impose fines on credit and debit card providers for facilitating the downloading of child pornography from the internet.
On 19 May 2011 Davies proposed that the Government pay for the promised rail electrification from Cardiff to Swansea from transnational EU transport funding to which the UK was entitled as it would complete electrification from London and join to Ireland via the ferry link. On 16 July 2012 Davies got Government assurances from Transport Secretary Justine Greening that by 2014, the 100th anniversary of Swansea-born Dylan Thomas's birth, rail electrification would continue to Swansea on the basis that Admiral insurance and others had stressed it would make a huge difference.
On 12 December 2012 Davies presented the Multinational Motor Manufacturing Companies (Duty of Care to Former Employees) Bill to require multinational motor manufacturing companies to provide a duty of care to former employees in respect of pension provision. This was part of the campaign to get Ford UK to compensate pensioners of their spun-off company Visteon UK Ltd., for the shortfall in their pensions and to recognise their "duty of care" to workers including those in Swansea Visteon pensions. The Bill was tabled to coincide in Parliament with the cross-party motion and debate co-sponsored by Davies and Stephen Metcalfe MP on Ford and Visteon UK. Davies said he came to demand justice but also in sadness as his father David, as head of economic development at the Welsh Office, had been instrumental in bringing Ford to South Wales in 1964. Ford and Visteon UK Ltd - Hansard Ford eventually paid £28 million compensation to former Ford employees on 10 June 2014.
In August 2013 Davies faced backlash after he said Labour, under Ed Miliband's leadership, had let the Tories win the argument on the economy which "makes us look like a shamefaced schoolboy admitting responsibility by omission".
In October 2013 Davies presented the Counsellors and Psychotherapists (Regulation) Bill to ban gay to straight conversion therapy and to ensure treatment was evidence-based, delivered by qualified practitioners and regulated by the Health Professionals Council. Davies re-presented the Bill in July 2014 and called upon successive governments to ban conversion therapy and to prevent unqualified people from presenting themselves as psychotherapists.
In July 2014 Davies introduced the Sugar in Food and Drinks (Targets, Labelling and Advertising) Bill to set government targets for the amount of sugar in food and drinks and to put sugar content on labels and in advertising in teaspoonfuls in order to reduce sugar consumption, diabetes and obesity. His Bill and "Action on Sugar" campaigned for a tax on added sugar, including a House of Commons reception during the first anti-sugar week.
In September 2014 Davies introduced a Bill to criminalise "Revenge Porn"; to prohibit the distribution of sexually explicit images without consent and require that the default settings of mobile phones and personal computers deny access to pornography. He argued that the law must punish and deter the malicious uploading of private videos of former girlfriends which inflicted permanent and growing misery. Following publicity of Davies' Bill in September 2014 to criminalise the distribution of sexually explicit images without consent on the internet (known as revenge porn), the offence of "disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress" was enacted as section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015.