Profile: Who is arrested MP Dan Norris?

Labour MP Dan Norris has been suspended from the party on Saturday after he was arrested on suspicion of non-recent sexual offences against a girl and rape.

Avon and Somerset Police said that a man in his sixties was arrested on Friday and has been released on conditional bail.

Mr Norris was elected as Labour MP for North East Somerset and Hanham, a constituency that lies roughly between the cities of Bristol and Bath.

The 65-year-old defeated veteran Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg for the seat in last year’s general election, winning 20,739 votes compared to his competitor’s 15,420.

In 2010, Mr Norris lost his seat to Sir Jacob, having represented the Wansdyke constituency – which became North East Somerset that year – since he first became an MP in 1997.

After his victory was announced, he declared: “We’ve got Mogg-xit done”, in a reference to Sir Jacob’s strong Brexiteer stance.

Mr Norris, who lives in Pensford, has “deep local roots” in the area having previously worked as an NSPCC-trained child protection officer and ran his own businesses there, according to the West of England Combined Authority website.

He served as assistant whip under the Tony Blair administration from 2001 to 2003, and then as an environment minister under Gordon Brown from 2009 to 2010.

Mr Norris has been Labour’s metro mayor of the West of England since 2021, when he beat Conservative rival Samuel Williams by taking 59.5% of the vote.

The mayor leads the West of England Combined Authority, which covers Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire, and makes decisions on issues including transport, homes, business, jobs and the economy in the region.

He was due to step down from the role ahead of the local elections next month.

Mr Norris was also chairman of the League Against Cruel Sports, a UK-based animal welfare charity which campaigns to end sports such as fox hunting and game bird shooting.

But a spokesman for the charity said on Saturday that he had vacated the role.

The spokesman said: “We can confirm Dan Norris MP has stepped down from his role as chair of the League Against Cruel Sports, and an interim chair has been appointed from the Board of Trustees.

“The charity cannot comment further while an investigation is ongoing.”

In December, he urged ministers to “close the legal loopholes that allow needless cruelty to animals, and implement a proper ban on hunting once and for all”.

One of the Government’s manifesto pledges was to ban trail hunting.