Dan Norris (born 28 January 1960) is a British
Labour Party politician serving as the
Mayor of the West of England since May 2021. He previously served as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
(MP) for
Wansdyke from 1997 to 2010.
Norris served in government as the
Parliamentary-Under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Environment from 2009 to 2010, and an
assistant whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes.
United Kingdo ...
from 2001 to 2003.
Early life
Dan Norris was born on 28 January 1960 in London to parents June Norris and David Norris.
His mother was a Labour councillor who stood as the candidate for the
Northavon constituency in the
1983 general election
The following elections occurred in the year 1983.
Africa
* 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election
* 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election
* 1983 Kenyan general election
* 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election
* 1983 Malawian general e ...
and the
1992 general election. His father worked as a sales manager and as a social worker.
Norris was educated at
Chipping Sodbury School and the
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
, where he completed a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in social work.
He is a former teacher and child protection officer, having trained with the
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity.
History
Victorian era
On a trip to New York in 1881, Liverpudlian businessman Thomas Agnew was inspired by a visit to the New Y ...
.
Before parliament
Norris was a councillor on
Bristol City Council
Bristol City Council is the local authority of Bristol, England. The council is a unitary authority, and is unusual in the United Kingdom in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Bristol. Bristol has 34 wards, ...
for the
Brislington West
Brislington West is a Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, council ward of the city of Bristol, England. It covers the western part of Brislington, together with Arnos Vale and Kensington Park.
Brislington
Brislington is one of ...
ward from 1989 to 1992 and from 1995 to 1997, and a councillor on
Avon County Council from 1994 to 1996.
He is a member of the GMB trade union.
Parliamentary career
Norris first stood for parliament in the constituency of Northavon in 1987, losing against the Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
incumbent, John Cope. In 1992, he was the Labour candidate for Wansdyke in Somerset, coming in second place against the Conservative incumbent, Jack Aspinwall. He contested the Wansdyke seat again in the election of 1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
, and this time succeeded in taking it with a majority of 4,799, overturning a Conservative majority of 11,770 votes. Norris went on to increase his majority to 5,613 in the election of 2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...
.
Norris has a particular interest in child safety and regularly campaigns against child sexual abuse,[ having co-written a free booklet on its prevention. He also co-wrote, produced and distributed a booklet, ''Don't Bully Me,'' giving practical advice to children across the United Kingdom on dealing with bullying.
Norris was an ]assistant whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes.
United Kingdo ...
for the Treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or ...
from June 2001 to June 2003. In May 2006 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
(PPS) to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of Stat ...
until June 2007, then PPS to Foreign Secretary
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
David Miliband to January 2009. In the reshuffle of June 2009 Norris entered government as a minister for the first time, becoming Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Minister for Rural Affairs and Environment).
The 2005 general election saw his lead over the Conservatives fall to 1,839. Due to changes made by the Boundary Commission for England
The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions:
* Boundary Commission for E ...
, the Wansdyke constituency was abolished at the 2010 election. Norris stood instead for the North East Somerset seat which covered most of the same area, but was defeated by the Conservative candidate Jacob Rees-Mogg
Jacob William Rees-Mogg (born 24 May 1969) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset since 2010. Now a backbencher, he served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council ...
.
Later career
Following his defeat at the 2010 general election, Norris worked for David Miliband in his unsuccessful bid for the Labour leadership. In May 2012, Norris was shortlisted to be the Labour Party candidate for the Bristol mayoral election, but did not win the selection. As of 2016 he was Head of Operations for the Russell Group of Universities, and he has run businesses. Norris was critical of Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the pol ...
's leadership of the Labour Party's handling of antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
, stating in an op-ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. ...
for the ''Bristol Post
The ''Bristol Post'' is a city/regional five-day-a-week (formerly appearing six days per week) newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It wa ...
'', "today’s Labour leadership seems to have become highly uncomfortable in opposing racism when it is directed at Jewish people".
In 2004, Norris was appointed to the board of the Snowdon Trust, a charity that supports students with physical disabilities. Norris is an ambassador for the children's charity Kidscape and a trustee of the League Against Cruel Sports.
Mayor of the West of England
Candidacy
Norris was selected as the Labour Party candidate on 16 November 2020, defeating Bristol councillor Helen Godwin in a vote of local members by 1,611 votes to 1,558. During the election campaign, the leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras ...
visited Bath to campaign with him. They were asked to leave a pub by its landlord, who opposed the use of lockdowns as part of the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
.
During the election campaign, Norris said that incumbent mayor Tim Bowles was the "only metro mayor who doesn't have more powers than when he started", and that if elected he would seek more money and powers from central government. He said he would establish a "Green Recovery Fund" to create 23,000 jobs by investing in "home retrofitting, tree-planting, flood and drought defences, and renewable energy".
Mayoralty
Norris was elected as the mayor of the West of England in the 2021 West of England mayoral election
The 2021 West of England mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of the West of England, on the same day as other local elections across the country. It was the second election for the role. The mayor was elected by the sup ...
, a role which had previously been held by the Conservative Tim Bowles. Upon taking office, he became entitled to the style of Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a 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 responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...
. He credited his victory to the leadership of Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras ...
. He said he would support North Somerset and parts of Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lor ...
joining the combined authority, and he would seek additional funds for them.
In his first public meeting of the West of England Combined Authority
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is a combined authority within the West of England area, consisting of the local authorities of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset. The combined authority is led by ...
(WECA), Norris vetoed a proposal supported by the leaders of the three constituent councils to spend £100,000 reviewing how the authority functions and makes decisions. At a meeting in July, Norris and the council leaders rejected most of a climate action plan that the authority had been developing since 2019 as insufficiently ambitious, and to begin developing a replacement. Also in July 2021, Norris launched new schemes to support the creative and food industries in the region.
In the October 2021 budget the UK government allocated £540 million to WECA over a five year period for public transport improvements, which will predominantly be spent on improving bus services.[ This includes £48 million for a ]park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ...
scheme near the M32 strategic corridor from South Gloucestershire to Bristol. The funding is from the Department for Transport
The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...
City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements scheme.
There was a dispute between WECA members and Norris over the mayor's powers, in particular a power to veto alternative proposals to their joint committee which included North Somerset Council
North Somerset Council is the local authority of North Somerset, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including Cou ...
. The four local authorities’ monitoring officers, who give legal advice, stated the veto could arguably amount to maladministration. On 15 October 2021, the four council leaders did not attend a WECA meeting with the mayor, which meant over £50 million of spending decisions could not be made. Norris stated "I would agree that y predecessorgave into them, I am not prepared to do that ... I’m not really bothered about procedures or legal arguments, frankly. I’m determined to get policies through and things delivered." A former non-voting member of WECA, Vice-Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...
of the University of the West of England
The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England.
The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...
Professor Steve West, was appointed as mediator in the dispute. In November 2021, after taking new legal advice, Norris agreed not to claim veto powers on decisions involving North Somerset.
In November 2021, the combined authority submitted a plan for a "seamless" public transport system with a single brand and payment system across buses and trains and across different operators. South Gloucestershire Council asked for funding from WECA for a pedestrianisation scheme on Thornbury Thornbury may refer to:
Places
;Australia
*Thornbury, Victoria
* Thornbury railway station, Melbourne
;Canada
* Thornbury, Ontario
;England
*Thornbury, Devon
* Thornbury, Herefordshire
*Thornbury, Gloucestershire
**Thornbury Castle
**Thornbury (UK ...
's high street, which Norris threatened to withhold unless the council further consulted residents. In the same month, Norris signed WECA up to a charter committing to support staff diagnosed with terminal illness, and urged organisations across the West of England to do likewise. He supported a strike by the University and College Union in Bristol in December 2021.
Spatial Development Strategy
A major responsibility of WECA and the mayor is the development of a Spatial Development Strategy (SDS), which will guide major planning decisions in the area and thus development direction. A somewhat similar Joint Spatial Plan was previously being developed by the area's unitary authorities in a four year process, and included building three new "garden villages". In 2019 the plan was withdrawn after the Planning Inspectorate criticised it as not "robust, consistent or objective".[
Consequently producing a SDS for WECA to agree became a priority for the new mayor.] The SDS covers the period to 2041, and needs a 12-week public consultation before a public examination by the Planning Inspectorate in early 2023.
In March 2022, Norris stated that the region's greenbelt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...
was "not fit for purpose". He argued that there should be no overall greenbelt area reduction, but limited changes to extend urban areas in a few places should be permitted. There was a current proposal by the owners of Ashton Gate Stadium to build 500 homes on the neighbouring greenbelt as part of a "sporting quarter" development.
The mayor and the leader of South Gloucestershire council dispute the amount of new housing proposed in WECA's forthcoming SDS, publishing of which was deferred. In May 2022, Norris told the government that agreement of a SDS was impossible, blaming South Gloucestershire council for leaving discussions, which was denied by South Gloucestershire's leader. Subsequently the three councils started developing their own individual Local Plans, which Norris had described as parochial.
Bibliography
*''Violence Against Social Workers: The Implications for Practice'', Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1989 (with Carol Kedward).
References
External links
*
*
Dan Morris's record as an MP
on TheyWorkForYou
TheyWorkForYou is a parliamentary monitoring website operated by mySociety which aims to make it easier for UK citizens to understand what is going on in Westminster, as well as the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assemb ...
Voting record at the Public Whip
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Dan
1960 births
Living people
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Labour Friends of Israel
Councillors in South West England
Mayors of the West of England
Politics of Bath and North East Somerset
British businesspeople
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children people
Alumni of the University of Sussex
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010