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
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
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
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
(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
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' 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
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 ...
, 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.
Notes
References
External links
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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