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Biography
Lisa Jane Forbes (born 28 July 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who served for six months as the Member of Parliament for Peterborough from a June 2019 by-election to the general election in December that year.
Early career
Forbes, who is a member of GMB, was an official in Unite the Union. She has worked for Thomas Cook.
Early political career
Forbes was elected as a Labour councillor for Orton Longueville ward on Peterborough City Council in 2012, standing down in 2016 to focus on her parliamentary candidacy.
She was the Labour candidate for Peterborough at the 2015 General Election, reducing the Conservative majority by over half, but chose not to stand in the 2017 election at which Fiona Onasanya won the seat for Labour. After Onasanya's removal by means of a recall petition, Forbes was selected to contest the seat again in the ensuing by-election.
She ran in the by-election on a platform of seeking to invest more into local schools, revitalise the local police force and combat illegal dumping. Jewish groups called on Labour to disown her for having commented on a Facebook thread and also a video containing anti-Israel antisemitic remarks: Forbes said she had not noticed the phrases. After she was elected, Jeremy Corbyn said she was "not a racist in any way", while she arranged to meet Jewish groups.
Parliamentary career
Forbes was elected MP for Peterborough on 7 June 2019 with a majority of 683 over the Brexit Party, which had been expected to win.
In September 2019, she called unsuccessfully for a government bailout for Thomas Cook Group, which employed 1000 people at their head office in her constituency.
She campaigned in 2019 for there to be statutory guidance on school uniform costs.
Personal life
Forbes has lived in the constituency for 30 years. She has four children.