Polly Billington

Polly Billington (born 1967) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament for East Thanet since 2024.

Prior to her election she was an environmental campaigner and had worked as a broadcast journalist for the BBC before becoming a special advisor to Ed Miliband. She was the media director for his successful bid in the 2010 Labour leadership election. In 2016 she founded the climate politics network UK100.

Education

Billington was educated at the Ursuline High School, Wimbledon, an all-girls Catholic school. She studied history and French at Sussex University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1990. She then undertook a postgraduate diploma in broadcast journalism at the department of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Central Lancashire in 1993.

Professional career

Billington was a BBC reporter for the '' Today'' programme, News 24, the ' Politics Show' ' Newsbeat and on Radio 1 as the first dedicated Political Reporter for Newsbeat.

Billington was the Head of Communications and Campaigns at Citizens Advice from January 2013 to January 2015, coordinating campaigns on energy, welfare and payday loans, before resigning to fight the highly marginal three-way contest of Thurrock at the general election.

Billington founded UK100 in 2016, a network for UK locally elected leaders who have pledged to switch to 100% clean energy by 2050. She served as the CEO until February 2023 when she was selected as a parliamentary candidate.

Billington received the Business Green Leader of the Year Award in 2023, for her "inspirational role in establishing UK100 as one of the most respected and important voices on climate policy in the UK".

Politico Europe reported in May 2023 that Billington had accepted a Senior Adviser role at the PR lobbying firm Hanover Communications - in their election planning team.

Politics

Billington became a special adviser to Ed Miliband in 2007 when he was working on party policy and election strategy in the Cabinet Office and according to ''The Daily Telegraph'' she was the 59th most influential person on the UK left in 2011.

She was the media director for Ed Miliband's successful Labour leadership bid.

In December 2011, Billington was selected for Thurrock, a marginal seat. She was one of 15 Labour candidates each given financial support of £10,000 by Lord Matthew Oakeshott in January 2015. The tight three-way contest resulted in a Tory hold by 536 votes over Billington with UKIP coming third.

Billington worked on Sadiq Khan's campaign to be selected as Labour's mayoral candidate for London, leading on communications. She was one of two Labour Party councillors elected to De Beauvoir ward in the 2018 Hackney London Borough Council election, with 1,448 votes. She was reelected in 2022, with 1,400 votes.

Billington has served as an Executive Member of SERA, Labour's Environment Campaign and is on the advisory group of Labour Climate and Environment Forum.

On 24 February 2023 she was selected by local Labour party members as the parliamentary candidate for East Thanet at the 2024 general election. She was elected in the general election on 4 July 2024.

She is LGBT+ and received support from the Chris Smith List.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Billington, Polly
1967 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Central Lancashire
Alumni of the University of Sussex
BBC newsreaders and journalists
British special advisers
Labour Party (UK) officials
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Labour Party (UK) councillors
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Councillors in the London Borough of Hackney
Women councillors in England
LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
English LGBTQ politicians
UK MPs 2024–present