Luke Myer (born 5 May 1995) is a British Labour politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland since

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Early life and education

Myer was born in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

and grew up in the village of

Brotton Brotton is a village in the civil parish of Skelton and Brotton, in the Redcar and Cleveland district, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England It is situated approximately south-east of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, 9 miles from Redcar, ea ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

. He attended Freebrough Specialist Engineering College and Prior Pursglove College, before training as a teacher. Myer studied at

Edge Hill University Edge Hill University is a campus-based public university in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. The university, which originally opened in 1885 as Edge Hill College, was the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in England, befo ...

, where he served as the student union's Vice President for Academic Representation. He unsuccessfully contested the National Union of Students role of Vice President for Higher Education. He worked on education policy at the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, and served on the board of a Middlesbrough SEND charity. Myer later joined the centre-left think tank the

Institute for Public Policy Research The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a Progressivism, progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 by Clive Hollick, Baron Hollick, Lord Hollick and John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, Lord Eatwell, and is an independen ...

(IPPR) as a research fellow and

policy analyst Policy analysis or public policy analysis is a technique used in the public administration sub-field of political science to enable civil servants, nonprofit organizations, and others to examine and evaluate the available options to implement the ...

, specialising in economic development policy in the North East. He remained active in East Cleveland, volunteering as a school governor and raising money for a local foodbank during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Political career

From 2021 to 2024, Myer served in local government; in his election to

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is the Local government in England, local authority for Redcar and Cleveland, a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial ...

, he defeated

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

police commissioner Steve Turner as well as unseating the local Conservative council leader. He served as Cabinet Member for Children, where he introduced a

child poverty Child poverty refers to the state of children living in poverty and applies to children from poor families and orphans being raised with limited or no state resources. UNICEF estimates that 356 million children live in extreme poverty. It is esti ...

strategy, opened new rural children's centres, and reduced the department's budget deficit. He was elected to Parliament at the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, defeating former Conservative minister Sir Simon Clarke with a majority of only 214 votes, overturning the highest Conservative majority in the Tees Valley.

Parliamentary career

Myer was elected chair of the all-party parliamentary group on

carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial installations is separated before it is released into the atmosphere, then transported to a long-term storage location.IPCC, 2021Annex VII: Glossary at ...

; in October 2024, the government announced £4 billion for the sector in Teesside. He has made several statements opposing

political extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

on the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

and

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

Personal life

He is married to his wife, Beth. He is endorsed by

LGBT+ Labour LGBT+ Labour is the socialist society (Labour Party), socialist society officially representing the LGBTQ wing of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party in the United Kingdom. The purpose of the organisation is to campaign within the Labour Party, ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Myer, Luke Living people Alumni of Edge Hill University 1995 births Politicians from Middlesbrough Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in North East England Labour Party (UK) councillors LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom English LGBTQ politicians UK MPs 2024–present