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Victoria Anne Spratt (born April 1988)[1] is an English housing journalist and documentary maker. Her 2016 campaign Make Renting Fair highlighted the plight of 'generation rent' and succeeded in getting letting fees for tenants in England banned. She speaks at political conferences about the need for security in renting. Spratt has also done work on the mental health side effects of hormonal contraception, with her Debrief investigation Mad About The Pill covered on BBC Radio 4 and BBC News. She has appeared as a commentator on BBC Woman's Hour, Daily Politics, Radio 2, BBC 5 live, and NTS radio, and has spoken at political party conferences about the housing crisis. In 2021, she was included on the shortlist for Press Gazette's British Journalism Awards.[2]
Early life
Spratt grew up in Surrey and attended Oxted County School. She went on to graduate from Pembroke College, Oxford.[3] Spratt later wrote an article for iNews about going into debt after graduating.[4]
Career
Between 2013 and 2015 Spratt worked as a freelance journalist, writing opinion, features and news and reporting for publications including The Telegraph, BBC Magazine, The Debrief and Broadly. Articles were mostly about politics and women's lifestyle. In January 2017, she began a role as Deputy editor at The Debrief.
Spratt's radio documentary Generation Right, which she wrote and co-presented, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 16 June 2014. The documentary investigates changing political views across generations.[5]
Spratt made a short documentary about abortion rights in Ireland for The Debrief, addressing the effect of Theresa May's coalition with the DUP.[6]
Spratt's first book, Tenants, was published by Profile Books in 2022. James Riding reviewed the book positively for The Times, describing it as "excoriating".[7] The book was also chosen for The Guardian's "Book of the Day".[8] Spratt began research for the book in 2017.[8]
Activism
Housing rights campaigner
In 2016 Spratt ran a campaign, Make Renting Fair, in her role at The Debrief to highlight the plight of ‘Generation Rent’ which resulted in the Government announcing a ban on letting agency fees for tenants.
Mental health and hormonal contraception
She has also worked to highlight the mental health side effects of hormonal contraception, and her Debrief investigation Mad About The Pill was covered on Radio 4 and BBC news. She wrote and co-presented a documentary about the politics of young people for Radio 4, Generation Right, and has written for VICE, Broadly, BBC, The Independent, The Evening Standard and The Spectator.
References
- ^ Spratt, Vicky (6 April 2023). "At 35, I've learned the joys of getting older". INews. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
- ^ Twitter, Press Gazette (4 November 2021). "British Journalism Awards shortlist 2021: Best journalism of year revealed". Press Gazette. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ Ellison, Andrew (26 November 2016). "Don't call us lazy, urges Generation Rent's new champion". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
- ^ "My nan cried when I got into Oxford – she thought I'd come back 'too good' for our family". inews.co.uk. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ "Is this Generation Right?". BBC News. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
- ^ "We Meet The Northern Irish Women Theresa May Has Betrayed In Her Deal With The DUP". Grazia. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
- ^ Riding, James. "Tenants by Vicky Spratt review — on the front line of Britain's housing emergency". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- ^ a b "Tenants by Vicky Spratt review – empty rooms and empty promises". the Guardian. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
