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Laura Coryton

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Laura Coryton MBE born in Shoreham, East Sussex (born 1993)[1] is a British campaigner, feminist activist and author. She is the founder of Stop Taxing Periods, the campaign to abolish the tampon tax in the United Kingdom and make menstrual products exempt from VAT. Coryton's online petition successfully lobbied the UK Parliament into establishing the Tampon Tax Fund in 2016, through which almost £100m was donated to female-focused charities. Her campaign succeeded in 2021 when the tax on all period products was axed.

Laura also runs the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) social enterprise Sex Ed Matters, dedicated to making quality and confidence-building sex education accessible to everyone, for which she won UKRI's Young Innovator Award 2023 and Women in Innovation Award 2024.

She began her career in frontline politics in 2024 when she stood as the Labour Party parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park.

Coryton's first book Speak Up!, a campaign guide for rebel girls, was published by Harper Collins UK in 2019, the USA in 2022 and has been translated into French.

For her work, she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to Charitable Campaigning.[2] Coryton also joined the Obama Foundation as a European Leader in 2022, joined the Department for Education's Period Poverty Taskforce in 2020, and was named one of The Observer's and Nesta's 2016 New Radicals.[3][4] In December 2016, the BBC included her in their list of Five women who aren’t on Wikipedia but should be.[5]

Education and career

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She was born on 28 May 1993. She attended state school Queen Elizabeths in Devon.[1] Coryton graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2015 and worked for the Labour Party[3] before completing her MSt in Women's Studies at the University of Oxford, for which she gained a Distinction.

Coryton then worked for Harper Collins when she wrote her book, before founding her social enterprise.

She is also an ambassador for The Eve Appeal, a British charity that raises awareness of and funds research into gynaecological cancers,[6] and founded the Homeless Period Project, a campaign to support homeless women's access to menstrual products.[7]

Stop Taxing Periods campaign

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Coryton started the Stop Taxing Periods campaign in May 2014 while a student at Goldsmiths. The campaign was centred around an online petition on campaign hosting website Change.org. By early 2016 the petition had gained more than 320,000 signatures and global recognition.[5][8] Stop Taxing Periods also used protests, demonstration and viral social media.[9][10][citation needed]

In 2015 the campaign gained the support of the then Prime Minister David Cameron, who said "I wish we could get rid of this… [but] there's a problem with getting rid of VAT on certain individual issues because of the way this tax is regulated and set in Europe."[11] Change.org's UK director Brie Rogers cited Coryton as a successful example of clicktivism and the influence of online political activism on national politics.[12]

In March 2016 Parliament accepted a Tampon Tax amendment proposed by Paula Sherriff MP, the then Chancellor George Osborne pledged in his budget to make menstrual products exempt from sales tax.[8] VAT on sanitary products was abolished on 1 January 2021 in the UK.[13]

Sex Ed Matters

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Coryton co-founded 'Sex Ed Matters', a Relationship and Sex Education social enterprise, in 2019. The organisation, which she runs with her twin sister Julia, is designed to help schools deliver the political aspects of the new RSE curriculum, including period education, consent and LGBT rights, through the means of workshops and resources.

For her social enterprise, Laura won Innovate UK's £12,000 Young Innovator Award in 2023 and its £50,000 Unlocking Potential Award in 2024. She has also spoken about the importance of sex education in tackling incel culture and empowering young people at many high profile events, including London Labour's Equalities Conference, Harvard University and Women of the World Festival London.

Richmond Park candidature

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On 20 April 2024, she became the Labour Party candidate for Richmond Park.[14] She almost doubled Labour's vote share in the constituency.

References

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  1. ^ a b Cross, Charlotte (27 February 2015), Campaign to #EndTamponTax to go before George Osborne after topping 188,000 signatures, ITN
  2. ^ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/658daadd80a3bb000d9d05bd/NY24_-_GOV.UK_New_Year_Honours_List_2024.pdf
  3. ^ a b "Laura Coryton Nesta". www.nesta.org.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  4. ^ "2016 New Radicals: the story behind this year's winners". The Observer. 10 July 2016.
  5. ^ a b White, Catriona (7 December 2016). "Five women who aren't on Wikipedia but should be". bbc.co.uk.
  6. ^ "Meet our Ambassadors | The Eve Appeal". The Eve Appeal. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Tom throws weight behind Homeless Period Project". Tom Brake. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  8. ^ a b "How a student started a global movement to end the tampon tax". The Independent. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Cambridge grad marches on Downing Street to fight against the Tampon Tax". The Tab. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  10. ^ "Russell Howard just nailed why the tampon tax is so ridiculous". The Independent. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  11. ^ "David Cameron: I would like to get rid of tampon tax". Politics Home. 22 April 2015.
  12. ^ Butter, Susannah (8 January 2016). "How Change.org boss Brie Rogers Lowery is clicking up an activism storm". Evening Standard.
  13. ^ Russon, Mary-Ann (1 January 2021). "Activists cheer as 'sexist' tampon tax is scrapped". BBC News.
  14. ^ Tweet

Her birth certificate.

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