Samantha Ruth Margaret Niblett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for

South Derbyshire South Derbyshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Derbyshire, England. The district covers the towns of Melbourne, Derbyshire, Melbourne and Swadlincote as well as numerous villages and hamlets such as Hilton, Derbys ...

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 ...

. She gained the seat from Heather Wheeler.

Early life and education

Niblett is from

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, the daughter of local detective Jim Doherty. Her paternal grandparents moved to Nottingham from County Mayo, Ireland in the 1950s.

Career

Prior to pursuing a full-time political career, Niblett worked at software company 1E as its Head of Alliances, Channel & Ecosystem; before 2022, she had worked in the information technology sector for more than 20 years. In 2022, she founded Labour Women in Tech, a campaign for the Labour Party to adopt policies to promote

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

subjects to girls and technology-related careers to women. Labour Women in Tech held in launch event in July 2023 which was attended by then Labour MPs

Lucy Powell Lucy Maria Powell (born 10 October 1974) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since July 2024. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she has been the Member of Pa ...

and Jonathan Ashworth, as well as former Labour MP and future East Midlands Mayor

Claire Ward Claire Margaret Ward (born 9 May 1972) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who was elected Mayor of the East Midlands in 2024 East Midlands mayoral election, May 2024. Previously, she served as Member of Parliament (United K ...

, and future MP for Erewash Adam Thompson. In politics, Niblett unsuccessfully contested the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

elections to Erewash Borough Council. In August 2023, she was successfully selected as the Labour Party candidate for the

constituency, which since the 2010 general election had been represented by

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 ...

MP Heather Wheeler. At the 2019 general election, Wheeler had won South Derbyshire by a margin of 4,168 votes (36.3%) over the second-placed Labour candidate. At the 2024 general election, Niblett defeated Wheeler by a margin of 4,168 votes (9.1%). In doing so, Niblett became the first Labour MP for South Derbyshire since Mark Todd, who held the seat from 1997 to 2010, and is the first female Labour MP for South Derbyshire.

References

External links

* Living people English people of Irish descent Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Nottingham UK MPs 2024–present Year of birth missing (living people) {{Labour-UK-MP-stub