Brenda Vanessa Dacres (born November 1966) is a British

Labour and Co-operative Party Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated to Labour Co-op; ) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidates contest elections under an el ...

politician who is

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

. In 2024 she became the first black woman to be elected Mayor of Lewisham, and the second black woman directly elected mayor in England after

Joanne Anderson Joanne Marie Anderson (born 7 January 1971)working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

Windrush generation British African-Caribbean people or British Afro-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens or residents of recent Caribbean heritage who further trace much of their ancestry to West and Central Africa. ...

parents.

Career

She formerly served as mayor and deputy mayor and on

Lewisham London Borough Council Lewisham London Borough Council, also known as Lewisham Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Lewisham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour Party ...

. She was elected in New Cross ward in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and Deptford ward in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. She first stood in 2017 for selection as the Labour candidate for Mayor of Lewisham but was beaten by

Damien Egan Damien James Egan (born 8 July 1983) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician serving as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol North East (UK Parliament constituency), Bristol North East, previo ...

, who was subsequently elected as Mayor in 2018. Dacres applied to be the Labour candidate in the

2018 Lewisham East by-election A by-election was held in the UK Parliament constituency of Lewisham East on 14 June 2018, following the resignation of Labour MP Heidi Alexander. It was the second by-election held during the 57th UK Parliament, which was elected in June 2017. ...

. She was a supporter of the Labour for free movement campaign. She appeared on an all ethnic minority women shortlist but was beaten by

Janet Daby Janet Jessica Daby (''née'' Sarju; born 15 December 1970) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician who has served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham East (UK Parliament constituency), Lewish ...

. In 2024 she was elected Mayor of Lewisham. The by-election was called after

was elected to Parliament in the

2024 Kingswood by-election A by-election took place on 15 February 2024 in the UK Parliament constituency of Kingswood in South Gloucestershire. This followed the resignation of Conservative MP Chris Skidmore, in protest at the UK government's decision to issue more oi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dacres, Brenda 1960s births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century British women politicians Black British women politicians Mayors of places in Greater London Women mayors of places in England Labour Party (UK) mayors Labour Party (UK) councillors Councillors in the London Borough of Lewisham 21st-century British politicians