About Felicity Buchan, your local champion

Who is Felicity Buchan? 

Felicity was born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.  She attended a local comprehensive school before studying law at Christ Church, Oxford.  

She began her career working for JPMorgan in 1991.  Over 10 years at JPMorgan she worked in both London and New York, in M&A, fixed income trading, syndicate and capital markets.

She left JPMorgan in 2001 to join Bank of America as a managing director, running its European corporate debt capital markets division.  

Living in Kensington & Chelsea for more than 25 years, she has been an involved member of our community both before and after becoming the local MP at the 2019 General Election. She has volunteered at a North Kensington children’s charity and was the Chair of Governors of Bousfield Primary School.  She believes it is the honour of her life to represent her local community.

On the 8th of September 2022, she was appointed as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury before becoming Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Homeless, a position she has held since the 30th of October 2022.  

In her ministerial role, she is responsible for tackling rough sleeping and homelessness as well as Ukrainian, Hong Kong and Afghan resettlement. The UK has the third lowest rough sleeping rate in the World behind South Korea and Japan with around 3,000 rough sleepers across England. However, every rough sleeper is one too many. That’s why the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has a budget of over £2bn over 3 years to end rough sleeping for good and reduce homelessness. 

As part of her resettlement portfolio, she is responsible for Homes for Ukraine.  The UK has welcomed almost 200,000 Ukrainians to the UK since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and many Kensington families have welcomed Ukrainians into their homes and communities.  Similarly, the UK has welcomed 192,000 Hong Kongers, and almost 25,000 Afghans – she is responsible for their integration.

When she gets time away from politics, she enjoys travelling and meeting friends and family in Kensington’s excellent restaurants, museums and galleries.

 

Lots Done

Since becoming the MP for Kensington in 2019, we've achieved a lot for our area.

Here are some of the highlights:

  • Campaigned for and secured £20m from Government for a carbon-neutral overhaul of Lancaster West Estate 

  • Campaigned for and secured £32m of Government investment for Morley College to support jobs and skills 

  • Introduced a private members bill, adopted by Government, to compel new builds to provide electric vehicle charging points

  • Campaigned successfully to save local buses including the 14, 31, 74, N74, C3, 19, 27, 49, 414 and the 430 from Sadiq Khan's cuts

  • Campaigned for and worked closely with Kensington and Chelsea Council to implement a Public Spaces Protection Order in Earl's Court to tackle anti-social behaviour

  • Secured support for local museums during Covid 

  • Put pressure on Thames Water to install over 140 flooding protection devices in Kensington homes since the 2021 floods to keep residents safe

  • Campaigned for and secured hundreds of new TfL staff across the network to stop the disruptive closures of our local tube stations

  • Delivered the Homes for Ukraine program as a Minister and helped over 100 Ukrainians find a new home in Kensington as a local MP

  • Campaigned successfully for Government to extend the £400 Energy relief payment to residents in mansion blocks

  • Handled over 30,000 pieces of casework and correspondence

  • Delivered an additional police officer to every neighbourhood in Kensington

  • Proactively engaged with residents and the council to green and plant more trees on High Street Kensington and local streets like Bracewell Road

  • Campaigned for and secured £10m from Government to green and retrofit local schools, reducing our carbon footprint locally

 

More To Do

We've achieved a lot, but we can always do more to make Kensington and Bayswater an ever better place to live.

If re-elected, I want to achieve the following in the next Parliament: 

  • Deliver even more police on our streets 

  • Save Notting Hill Police Station put putting pressure on the Mayor to reopen it or sell it to Kensington and Chelsea Council 

  • Electrify our local bus routes by 2030 

  • Get construction underway to completely rebuild St Mary's Hospital 

  • Deliver more flooding protection devices to Kensington and Bayswater properties at risk of flooding

  • Implement a Public Spaces Protection Order in Bayswater and Lancaster Gate to crack down on crime and antisocial behaviour 

  • Ensure patients retain access to their GP surgery on demand 

  • Campaign for further decarbonisation of council properties across Kensington and Bayswater

  • Work with local councils to install more electric vehicle charging points

  • Support the findings and recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry 

  • Work with residents to ensure major developments in Earl's Court and Kensal Canalside deliver affordable housing in keeping with our area 

  • Campaign against proposals to introduce VAT on independent schools