On Saturday, Britain’s governing Labour Party confirmed the suspension of Dan Norris, one of its lawmakers in Parliament, following his arrest by the police.

According to the Labour Party’s statement, Mr. Norris “was immediately suspended upon the party being informed of his arrest. Further comment will not be made while the police investigation is ongoing.”

The Labour Party did not disclose the reasons for Mr. Norris’s arrest, and he has yet to comment on the matter.

In the UK, it’s common for the police not to disclose the names of suspects unless they are charged. However, the BBC reported that Mr. Norris was arrested on suspicion of rape, child sex offenses, child abduction, and misconduct in a public office.

The Avon and Somerset Police released a statement, without naming the suspect, stating that a man in his 60s was arrested on Friday on suspicion of sexual offenses against a girl, rape, and child abduction, as well as misconduct in a public office. He was released on conditional bail.

The police statement mentioned that in December 2024, they received a referral concerning alleged non-recent child sex offenses against a girl.

It was noted that most of the alleged offenses took place in the 2000s, while one incident of rape is claimed to have occurred in the 2020s. The investigation is ongoing and still in its early stages.

This action by the Labour Party is expected to effectively suspend Mr. Norris from representing the party in the House of Commons during the investigation.

Mr. Norris won a parliamentary seat representing North East Somerset and Hanham in the previous year, defeating the former Conservative cabinet minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Mr. Norris also serves as the mayor of the West of England, a role he has held since 2021; he is not seeking re-election for this position, which will be up for contest on May 1.

Mr. Norris’s political career spans over two decades. He served as a lawmaker from 1997 to 2010, representing the seat of Wansdyke in the west of England. During this time, he was an assistant whip in Tony Blair’s government from 2001 to 2003 and a junior minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2009 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.