Scott Benton

Scott Lloyd Benton (born 1 July 1987) is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected to at the 2019 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackpool South.

Scott was born in Newport in 1987, but spent most of his early life in West Yorkshire. At age 11 he attended his local state school in Brighouse, Rastrick High School.

He studied Theology as an undergraduate at the University of Nottingham and was awarded a 1st Class Honours Degree. During this time he also worked in the Students’ Union bar. He remained at the university to study for a postgraduate degree and gained a Masters in Theology.

After leaving formal education Scott worked as a primary school teacher where he focused on supporting under-privileged children.

In 2011, Benton was elected to Calderdale Council for the Brighouse Ward. As a councillor he spent periods of time as Deputy Leader of the Council and then Leader of the Conservative Group. He was an active councillor in his ward assisting over 400 individuals with local issues in 2017.

Alongside being a councillor Scott worked as a Parliamentary Assistant for the MP for Calder Valley, Craig Whittaker.

He previously ran for Strangford at the 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election and for Huddersfield at the 2017 general election.

Scott contested and won the Blackpool South seat at the 2019 General Election. This was the first time since 1997 the constituency has been represented by a Conservative. A swing of 9.4% meant he was elected with a majority of 3690 votes. His campaign focused on delivering Brexit, reopening Blackpool Airport for commercial flights and opposing the plans for development on Stanley Park Golf Course.

He was a member of SPUC (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children), a pro-life, anti-abortion (even in cases of rape) lobbying group that also campaign against same-sex marriage and sex education in schools. Despite the latter, Benton has stated he is personally in favour of same-sex marriage saying “I am not homophobic and I am passionately in favour of same-sex marriage. I was a member of the SPUC because I am pro-life but am no longer involved.”.

It is claimed that he walked out of a motion in support of equal marriage whilst working for Calderdale Council in 2013.