Helen Godwin is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the

Mayor of the West of England The mayor of the West of England is the directly elected mayor who leads the West of England Combined Authority. The body, a combined authority, is responsible for strategic administration, including planning, transport and skills, across the l ...

since 2025.

Early life and education

Helen Godwin grew up in Begbrook, near

Stapleton, Bristol Stapleton is an area in the northeastern suburbs of the city of Bristol, England. The name is colloquially used today to describe the ribbon village along Bell Hill and Park Road in the Frome Valley. It borders Eastville to the South and Begbro ...

, in what she states was a working class family, and went to

Cotham School Cotham School is a secondary school with academy status in Cotham, a suburb of Bristol, England. The catchment area for this school is Cotham, Clifton, Kingsdown, Southern Redland, Bishopston, St Paul's and Easton. The school shares a sixth fo ...

and Filton College. From 1994 to 1998 she took a degree in European Studies and Spanish at

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

Early political career

In her 20s, Godwin was a

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

supporter and Labour

blogger A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

, although she left the Labour party for four years in protest at British involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which she called an illegal war. Godwin (listed as Helen Godwin Teige) was elected to

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority for the city of Bristol, in South West England. Bristol has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, being ...

, representing

Southmead Southmead is a northern suburb and wards of the United Kingdom, council ward of Bristol, in the south west of England, bordered by Filton in South Gloucestershire and Monks Park, Horfield, Henleaze and Westbury on Trym. It is the location of on ...

ward, in 2016. She was re-elected in 2021, and later served as cabinet member for women, young people and families under Marvin Rees. She announced her resignation as councillor in December 2021 due to work commitments from a new job. In 2020, she ran to be the Labour candidate for 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 2021 United Kingdom local elections, other local elections across the country. It was the second election for the rol ...

, but was defeated in a local party membership ballot by the former Labour MP for Wansdyke,

Dan Norris Dan Norris (born 28 January 1960) is a British politician who served as Mayor of the West of England from 2021 to 2025, and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset and Hanham since 2024, having represented Wansdyke, ...

Mayor of the West of England

Candidacy

On 21 November 2024, Godwin was named as the Labour candidate for the 2025 West of England mayoral election. Her candidacy was endorsed by the Member of Parliament for

Bristol North West Bristol North West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Darren Jones of the Labour Party. Constituency profile The seat covers northwest parts of Bristol, extending to the Severn Estuary. ...

Darren Jones Darren Paul Jones (born 13 November 1986) is a British politician who has served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury since July 2024, having previously been Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from September 2023 to July 2024. A member of ...

MP, and by the former Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees and his two deputies. Godwin was elected

on 1 May 2025 with 25.0% of the vote.

Mayoralty

Godwin stated that she would take a collaborative approach in the

West of England Combined Authority The West of England Combined Authority (WECA), branded as the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, is a combined authority within the West of England combined authority area, consisting of the local authority areas of Bristol, South G ...

, and that her three main priorities were: *reliable buses and trains; *affordable homes in the right locations; *assisting in the creation of green jobs.

Working career

In August 2021, Godwin started working for professional services company

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

(PwC) in their consulting business in the government and health sectors. Earlier in her working career, she worked for recruitment company Hays as business manager in the legal interims and paralegals division, and later as director and co-owner with her spouse of Redland Search, a recruitment company in Bristol.

Personal life

Godwin moved back to Bristol from London circa 2012. She and her spouse have three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godwin, Helen Living people Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University Labour Party (UK) mayors Women mayors of places in England Mayors of the West of England 21st-century British women politicians Labour Party (UK) councillors Councillors in Bristol PwC people British businesspeople in recruitment