Bruce was elected in 2004 to
Warrington Borough Council representing the Ward
Penketh &
Cuerdley. As a Councillor, she served as Executive Member for Finance from 2006 to 2009. In 2006 Bruce was placed on the
Conservative A-List of priority parliamentary candidates following efforts by the Conservative
Women2Win mentoring and pressure group. Following her selection as the Conservative Party candidate for
Congleton, Bruce denied allegations that she had been chosen following an orchestrated campaign by religious groups sympathetic to her
evangelical Christian beliefs. At the
2010 general election, Bruce was elected as MP for Congleton with 45.8% of the vote and a majority of 7,063. Bruce was a member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee from 2010 to 2024. In February 2015, Bruce introduced an amendment to the
Serious Crime Bill 2014 to make abortion on the grounds of the sex of the baby illegal. The amendment was rejected by 292 votes to 201. In February 2015 Bruce described "defending and fighting for the sanctity of human life" as her priority in Parliament. Bruce supported
Brexit in the
2016 referendum. At the snap
2017 general election, Bruce was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 56.6% and a decreased majority of 12,619. In 2019, Bruce chaired an inquiry by the
Conservative Party Human Rights Commission into prostitution, which made the recommendation to replace
existing laws on soliciting prostitution with laws that would make paying for sexual services a criminal offence. Bruce was again re-elected at the
2019 general election, with an increased vote share of 59% and an increased majority of 18,561. In 2020, she was appointed by
Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, and in this capacity was supportive of a petition to grant asylum to Maira Shahbaz and her family, a Pakistani Christian girl who has received death threats. In May 2021 Bruce co-authored an essay entitled "Family Matters – the Case for Strengthening Families" with former MP,
David Burrowes, for inclusion in
Common Sense: Conservative Thinking for a Post-Liberal Age published by the
Common Sense Group, an informal group of Conservative MPs. In 2022, Bruce was elected as Chair of the
International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, a network of countries promoting
freedom of religion or belief worldwide. She was re-elected for a second term in 2023. In July 2023, she spoke out against the
persecution of Christians during the
ongoing violence in Manipur, India. Bruce lost her seat at the 2024 General Election. == Personal life ==