| Kevin Bonavia | |
| Office: | Member of Parliament for Stevenage |
| Majority: | 6,618 (15.5%) |
| Term Start: | 4 July 2024 |
| Predecessor: | Stephen McPartland |
| Office1: | Member of Lewisham London Borough Council for Blackheath |
| Term Start1: | 6 May 2010 |
| Term End1: | 5 May 2022 |
| Birth Place: | Rabat, Malta |
| Nationality: | British |
| Party: | Labour |
| Alma Mater: | University of Birmingham |
Kevin Bonavia (born 1977/1978) is a British Labour Party politician serving as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Stevenage since 2024.[1]
Bonavia was born to a Maltese father and a Scottish mother.[2] He spent his early childhood in Rabat, Malta before moving to England at age eight.[3] He attended the private Eltham College as a bursary. He graduated from the University of Birmingham with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History and completed a postgraduate diploma at the University of Law.[4] Before entering politics, he worked as a litigator[5] and at Steel & Shamash, where he acted for Labour Party, MPs and councillors on range of matters, including advising candidates on electoral law issues during 2005 General Election campaign.
He was youth officer in Birmingham Edgbaston, Greenwich & Woolwich and Lewisham East Constituency Labour Parties.[6]
In 2004-5, Bonavia was Chair of the Young Fabians, a socialist society that is affiliated with the Labour Party (UK).[7]
Bonavia became a councillor for the Blackheath ward in Lewisham London Borough Council in 2010 and was reelected in 2014 and 2018, stepping down in 2022.[8] In 2014, he became Cabinet Member for Resources in the council. From 2018 to 2022, he held the position of Cabinet Member for Democracy, Refugees and Accountability.
On 30 June 2016, Bonavia was one of 600 Labour councillors who signed a public statement calling on Jeremy Corbyn to resign as leader and “make way for the new leadership”.[9] On 19 August 2016, Bonavia was one of 1,000 Labour councillors who signed a letter announcing and explaining why they were backing Owen Smith over Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.[10]
In 2010, Bonavia ran as the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for the Rochford & Southend East constituency, in Essex, where he came in second place with 20.3% of the vote, a drop of 11.3%.[11] In 2019, Bonavia ran as the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for the Clacton constituency in Essex, winning 15.5% of the vote, a drop of 9.9%.[12] In 2024, he ran successfully in the Stevenage constituency in Hertfordshire, winning 41.4% of the vote, an increase of 6.2%. [13]