West MP arrested for rape dismisses calls for him to resign

“My position has not changed”

A West of England MP who hasn’t attended parliament for a year has again rejected calls for him to resign, telling a man who got thousands to sign a petition about him that they would ‘have to agree to disagree’ on him continuing to be an MP.

In the first correspondence for more than four months on the efforts to persuade him to resign, Dan Norris MP told his constituent Andrew Gray that his ‘position has not changed’, and that he would continue to be the MP for North East Somerset and Hanham.

Mr Norris has not been to parliament in person since April 2025, when he was arrested on suspicion of rape. He was released under investigation and in February was arrested again on suspicion of rape, sexual assault, voyeurism and upskirting.

In an update to the case in February, police said they were no longer investigating any sexual offences against children, but the original rape and misconduct in a public office investigation was continuing.

Mr Norris continues to ‘vigorously and entirely deny the serious allegations’ made against him. “They are untrue,” he said in February. “I am challenging them through my legal representatives.”

While the police investigation is ongoing, the separate question of Mr Norris’ position as the MP for an area that stretches from the south eastern parts of Bristol to Keynsham and the countryside around Bath continues.

Since last summer, one of Mr Norris’ constituents, Andrew Gray, set up a petition calling for him to resign as the MP because he has not attended parliament. That petition has now reached 3,600 signatures, and this month Mr Gray again wrote to Mr Norris calling for him to stand down.

READ MORE: MP Dan Norris breaks silence on further allegations of upskirting and rapeREAD MORE: Arrested MP Dan Norris insists he is still serving constituents

Mr Norris has not physically been to parliament since his arrest, but has voted using the MPs’ proxy system, and maintains he continues to work on behalf of constituents who contact him on various issues.

Mr Norris was a Labour MP – and the outgoing Labour West of England metro mayor – at the time of his arrest last April. He was suspended from the Labour Party immediately, and has been officially an independent MP ever since.

“Over the last month, I have been pressing Mr Norris’s office for a substantive answer regarding how he can actively represent North East Somerset and Hanham while suspended from the party and banned from the Parliamentary estate,” Mr Gray said.

It is unclear if Mr Norris is formally banned from the Parliamentary Estate, a House of Commons spokesperson said they do not comment on individual cases, but Mr Norris has not been to parliament since his arrest.

In his response, Mr Norris told Mr Gray there was no change in his view that he can continue to be an MP. “I’m afraid my correspondence to you today is going to be as equally disappointing to you as my previous replies,” Mr Norris said.

“My position has not changed. Yours too has remained the same. In the circumstances it would seem that we are going to have to agree to disagree on this matter,” he added.

That response has increased Mr Gray’s frustration. “After weeks of silence, his office has finally replied. Rather than addressing the severe democratic deficit, his response was simply to brush the concerns aside,” said Mr Gray.