Layla Moran | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Chair of theHealth and Social Care Select Committee | |
| Assumed office 9 September 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Steve Brine |
| Member of Parliament forOxford West and Abingdon | |
| Assumed office 8 June 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Nicola Blackwood |
| Majority | 14,894 (32.4%) |
| Liberal Democrat portfolios | |
| 2023–2024 | Science, Innovation and Technology |
| 2020–2024 | Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs |
| 2019–2020 | Digital, Culture, Media and Sport |
| 2017–2020 | Education |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Layla Michelle Moran (1982-09-12)12 September 1982 (age 43) Hammersmith, London, England |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Domestic partner | Rosy Cobb |
| Parent |
|
| Residence(s) | West Oxfordshire, England |
| Alma mater | |
Layla Michelle Moran (/məˈræn/mə-RAN; born 12 September 1982) is a BritishLiberal Democrat politician. She has served as the Chair of theHealth and Social Care Select Committee since September 2024, and has beenMember of Parliament (MP) forOxford West and Abingdon since 2017.
Moran worked as a maths and physics teacher. She unsuccessfully campaigned as the Liberal Democrat candidate inBattersea at the2010 general election; in theWest Central constituency at the2012 London Assembly election; and in Oxford West and Abingdon at the2015 general election. Moran was selected for the seat again at the2017 general election and was elected to theHouse of Commons, defeating Conservative MPNicola Blackwood.
She was the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for theDepartment for Education under three leaders from 2017 to 2020, and was spokesperson for theDepartment for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2019 to 2020. AfterJo Swinson lost her seat at the2019 general election, Moran stood to become theleader of the Liberal Democrats in the2020 leadership election, which she lost to acting leaderSir Ed Davey. On 31 August 2020, Davey appointed Moran as the Liberal Democrats' shadow foreign secretary, and as international development spokesperson the following day. She served in these roles until her election as Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee.[1]
Moran came out aspansexual in 2020 and is the first UK parliamentarian to do so.[2][3] She is the first MP ofPalestinian descent.[4][5]
Moran was born on 12 September 1982 inHammersmith,[6] the elder daughter of diplomatJames Moran and Randa Moran, aChristian Palestinian fromJerusalem.[7][8][9]
Her great-grandfather was the Palestinian writerWasif Jawhariyyeh, who published extensive memoirs. Moran describes herself as British-Palestinian.[10] On her upbringing, Moran said "My Palestinian background has made me interested at a global level. Politics was always at the dinner table; it primed me to engage."[4] Baptised and raised in theGreek Orthodox Church,[11] Moran now identifies as ahumanist.[12]
As her father was a diplomat for theEuropean Union, Moran grew up in various countries, including Belgium, Greece, Ethiopia, Jamaica and Jordan.[8][13][14] She attended private schools inBrussels, andKingston, before going toRoedean School inBrighton.[15] From 2000 to 2003, she studied physics atImperial College London, and from 2005 to 2007 completed aPGCE atBrunel University London. From 2007 to 2008, she studied for a master's degree in comparative education at theInstitute of Education (now theUCL Institute of Education).[16]
From 2003 to 2012, Moran was a maths and physics teacher at theInternational School of Brussels, and at two schools in London:Queensmead School andSouthbank International School. Between 2009 and 2013 she worked as a part-time course tutor for Oxford Study Courses, a company that helpsInternational Baccalaureate teachers and students, and from 2013 she was full-time academic manager.[17]
Moran was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate forBattersea at the2010 general election, coming third with 14.7% of the vote behind theConservative candidateJane Ellison and theLabour candidateMartin Linton.[18][19] She also stood as a candidate for theWest Central constituency in the2012 London Assembly election, coming fourth with 6.9% of the vote behind the Conservative incumbentKit Malthouse, and the Labour andGreen Party candidates.[20]
Moran contestedOxford West and Abingdon at the2015 general election, coming second with 28.9% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MPNicola Blackwood.[21] She was selected for the seat again at the snap2017 general election and was elected with 43.7% of the vote and a majority of 816.[22][23][24] Moran became the first UK Member of Parliament ofPalestinian descent and the first female Liberal Democrat MP from an ethnic minority background.[25]
In June 2017, Moran was named Liberal Democrat spokesperson for education, science and young people in theHouse of Commons.[26] That month she used her maiden speech to call for fairer funding for schools, and in July 2017 she spoke out against the closure of all theSure Start children's centres in Oxfordshire earlier in the year.[27][28][29] Also in July 2017, Moran was jeered at for accusing the Conservatives of underfunding a new scheme to provide 30 hours of free child care for the children of working parents.[30][31] Later in 2017, she was appointed a member of thePublic Accounts Committee, which is responsible for overseeing government expenditure.[32]
In May 2019, Moran announced that, being a relatively new MP, she would not be running in the2019 Liberal Democrats leadership election.[33] She had been considered a frontrunner to replaceVince Cable as leader, following his announcement in September 2018 that he intended to step down from the post.[34][35]
At the2019 general election, Moran was re-elected as MP for Oxford West and Abingdon with an increased vote share of 53.3% and an increased majority of 8,943.[36][37]
In March 2020, Moran announced that she would be running in the2020 leadership election.[38] Moran finished in second place with 35.6% of the vote, losing toEd Davey, the acting co-leader.[39]
Moran has called for a full review of theGCSE history curriculum.[40] She argues that to tackleinstitutional racism in society, students must betaught of Britain's colonial past and the injustices that took place within it.[41] In 2020 over 250,000 people signed a petition calling for 'Britain's colonial history to be made a compulsory part of the curriculum' which prompted Moran and 30 other cross-party MPs to apply greater pressure on the government to make significant changes to the history curriculum.
In 2021, Moran was one of three MPs who successfully took legal action against theDepartment of Health and Social Care over contracts awarded during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[42]
On 9 September 2024, Layla Moran was elected as Chair of theHealth and Social Care Select Committee.[43]
Moran has stated that she supportsaction on climate change, and in 2021 was the only Oxfordshire MP to support theClimate and Ecological Emergency Bill.[44] In 2023, she campaigned against solar farms in her constituency.[45][46]
Moran opposed Brexit and supported asecond referendum on EU membership. Despite her opposition to Brexit, after the2019 general election, she said that a Liberal Democrat policy to cancel the departure without a second referendum was a mistake.[47][48]
Moran opposed the2003 invasion of Iraq.[11] She opposed cuts to foreign aid toYemen[49] and has been critical ofSaudi Arabian-led intervention in that country.[50]
Moran believes that the United Kingdom shouldannounce recognition of theState of Palestine.[51] She called out the names of the children killed in the2021 Israel–Palestine crisis in Parliament.[52] Following the2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas, Moran appeared and spoke at vigils for Israeli victims in Oxford and denounced Hamas as a terrorist organisation.[53][54]
Moran supported an inquiry into the disappearances ofMohammed Bin Nayef andPrince Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.[55] She is also critical of thearms trade betweenBritain and Saudi Arabia,[56] and is a critic of Russia.[57] In February 2022, she used the cover ofParliamentary privilege to name theNavalny 35, Russian oligarchs who, as allies of Vladimir Putin, should have sanctions imposed on them.[58]
Moran is a supporter ofNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and in 2018 called for her release from prison in Iran.[59]
During theGaza war, she has advocated for allowinghumanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and urged the then Prime Minister,Rishi Sunak to take a stronger stance regarding thehumanitarian crisis.[60] Furthermore, she has advocated for apermanent ceasefire, citing in December 2023 the desperate situation of her own family members trapped in Gaza.[61] Moran welcomed the UK'sformal recognition of theState of Palestine on 21 September 2025, describing it as a promise fulfilled to hergreat-grandfather,[62] and advocated for more concrete action from Parliament, including stopping the trade with illegal settlers in the occupied territories, ceasing the arms sail to Israel, and giving resources to the Foreign Office to lead the Western bloc's brokering of the peace deal.[63]
In 2020, Moran campaigned against a proposal to build 11,000 new homes in Oxford by 2036.[64] In 2023, she urged voters to vote tactically for the Green Party in order to block increases in housing supply in her constituency.[64]
In an interview withThe Times, Moran stated that she suffered fromdepression when she was a student and attributed it to anegative self-image resulting from thesocial stigma of obesity.[65][66] She underwentstomach-stapling surgery to assist her in losing weight.[65][67]
In 2013, Moran and her then-boyfriend, Richard Davis, were briefly questioned by police after she slapped him during an argument in their hotel room at theLiberal Democrat Federal Conference.[65][68] She was charged withdomestic violence but the case was subsequently dropped.[69]
On 2 January 2020, Moran revealed in an interview withPinkNews that she ispansexual; she is believed to be the first UK parliamentarian to come out as pansexual.[2][3] Moran also disclosed that she was in a relationship with former Liberal Democratpress officer Rosy Cobb.[70] The couple live inWest Oxfordshire.[9][71]
During theGaza war, Moran stated in October 2023 that she had extended family stranded inGaza City.[60] On 15 November 2023, she said during a debate in parliament that a family member had died in Gaza.[72]
In May 2025, Moran announced the birth of her first child and that she would be taking parental leave for about five months. Moran's baby was born at theJohn Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.[73]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forOxford West and Abingdon 2017–present | Incumbent |
