Olivia Blake
British politician (born 1990)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Olivia Frances Blake-Dagnall (born 10 March 1990) is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam since 2019.[1][2]
Olivia Blake | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Official portrait, 2024 | ||||||||||
| Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam | ||||||||||
| Assumed office 12 December 2019 | ||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jared O'Mara | |||||||||
| Majority | 8,981 (15.9%) | |||||||||
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| Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council | ||||||||||
| In office 5 April 2017 – 23 August 2019 | ||||||||||
| Leader | Julie Dore | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Leigh Bramall | |||||||||
| Succeeded by | Terry Fox | |||||||||
| Member of Sheffield City Council for Walkley | ||||||||||
| In office 22 May 2014 – 2 March 2020 | ||||||||||
| Preceded by | Nikki Sharpe | |||||||||
| Succeeded by | Bernard Little | |||||||||
| Personal details | ||||||||||
| Born | Olivia Frances Blake 10 March 1990 Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England | |||||||||
| Party | Labour | |||||||||
Other political affiliations | Socialist Campaign Group | |||||||||
| Spouse |
Lewis Dagnall (m. 2019) | |||||||||
| Parent | Judith Blake (mother) | |||||||||
| Education | Prince Henry's Grammar School | |||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Sheffield (BSc) | |||||||||
| Website | www | |||||||||
She is principally known for her advocacy on climate and nature issues, disability rights, miscarriage policy and SEND policy.
Early life and education
Olivia Blake was born on 10 March 1990 in Northallerton, North Yorkshire. She grew up in Otley, West Yorkshire and was educated at Prince Henry's Grammar School. She studied biomedical science at the University of Sheffield.[3]
Early political ambitions
In 2013, Blake stood in the election as the youth representative on Labour's National Executive Committee and came second.[4] She campaigned to introduce 'one member one vote' elections for internal positions and was supported by the Labour Party's left-wing.[5]
In 2018, Blake was elected to Labour's National Policy Forum with the endorsement of left-wing groups, Momentum and Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance.[6]
Sheffield City Council
Blake unsuccessfully stood in the May 2013 by-election for the Fulwood ward of Sheffield City Council, before being elected as councillor for the Walkley ward in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Elected deputy leader of the council in April 2017 "on a ticket of reform", Blake worked to in-source council contracts and tackle privatisation.[7] Under her leadership, the council brought its revenues and benefits services back in-house from Capita, which Blake said would give the council "greater control and allow [it] to adapt and respond as the city's priorities develop locally".[8] She also initiated the process to bring digital services and cleaning contracts in-house, and supported a campaign for a pilot scheme of universal basic income in Sheffield.
Blake stepped down as deputy leader in August 2019 to support a grassroots movement to change the council's democratic structure, remaining as a councillor.[9][10][11] Writing in Tribune, she said the move was to support "a new way of doing politics in our city" and to "contribute a socialist voice" to the debate over Sheffield's governance. She resigned from the council altogether following her election as an MP in December 2019.[12]
Blake supported Britain remaining in the European Union saying, in November 2019, that she would campaign to remain in a potential second referendum on the issue.[13]
Parliamentary career
Elections
Blake was selected as the prospective Labour Party candidate for Sheffield Hallam in December 2018.[14] At the 2019 general election, Blake was elected as the MP for Sheffield Hallam with 34.6% of the vote and a majority of 712.[15][16] In her maiden speech, Blake said that her constituency had a "very long history of social justice", as Robin Hood mythology points to a Yorkshire origin in Loxley. She said that the lore surrounding Robin of Loxley meant that she was "not the first person in Sheffield Hallam to stand on a platform of redistributing wealth".[17][18]
Blake was re-elected as MP for Sheffield Hallam at the 2024 general election with a vote share of 46.3% and a majority of 8,981.[19][20][21]
She nominated Rebecca Long-Bailey in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election and Angela Rayner in the 2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election.[22]
Roles and memberships
Following the election of Keir Starmer as Labour leader, in April 2020, Blake was appointed as joint Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jo Stevens (Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) and to Ian Murray (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland).[23] Blake was forced to resign from this position in September 2020 when she, alongside 18 other Labour MPs – including two other junior office holders, Beth Winter and Nadia Whittome – defied the whip and voted against the Overseas Operations Bill.[24][25]
On 14 May 2021, Blake was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Nature, Water and Flooding.[26] In the November 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle, Blake was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Climate Change.[27] She resigned from this role in June 2022, citing personal reasons.[28]
Committees, APPGs and other groups
Upon her election, Blake joined the Socialist Campaign Group, a left-wing grouping of Labour Party MPs in the Commons.[29]
She was elected to the Public Accounts Committee in March 2020, serving until July 2021 when she stepped down upon taking up her frontbench role as Shadow Minister for Nature. She returned to the committee in July 2022 following her resignation from the frontbench, and remained a member until the 2024 general election.[30][31] Following her re-election in 2024, Blake joined the Environmental Audit Committee on 28 October 2024.[32]
As of 2026, Blake is co-chair of the APPGs on Local Nature Recovery and Migration, and is a member of the APPGs on Water Pollution, Autism, Climate Change, Environment, Gypsies, Travellers and Roma, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, International Conservation, Fair Elections and Baby Loss.[33][34] She previously served as chair of the SEND APPG and as treasurer of the APPG on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.[35][36]
As vice-chair of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union Parliamentary Group, Blake coordinated a cross-party letter of 95 MPs calling on Wetherspoons owner Tim Martin to "put people and not profits first" and continue paying his workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, after he was reported to have told staff to seek work at Tesco instead.[37][38][39] In September 2021, Blake introduced the Abuse of Public-facing Workers (Offences) Bill under the ten minute rule, seeking to create specific criminal offences for verbal and physical abuse of workers in customer-facing roles. The bill reached its second reading in May 2022 but did not progress further.[40][41]
Policies and views
Climate and nature
Blake is a supporter of a Green New Deal for the UK, and a prominent parliamentary advocate for action on climate change and nature loss.
In January 2021, Blake launched a series of climate assemblies in the run-up to COP26.[42] From these assemblies, Blake created the Hallam Citizens' Climate Manifesto, informed by constituents' contributions in the assemblies. She launched the manifesto in October 2021, with an event in Sheffield, and by handing in a copy of the manifesto to 10 Downing Street.[43][44] Blake later received The Climate Coalition's 2023 Green Heart Hero Award as an "MP Constituency Champion", recognised for developing the Hallam Citizens' Climate Manifesto, advocating for housing retrofits, supporting local rewilding and campaigning against moorland burning in the Sheffield area.[45]
Blake is a key proponent for the Climate and Nature Bill.[46][47] When she introduced the legislation (then, as the Climate and Ecology Bill) under the ten minute rule in May 2023, she secured the Labour Party's support for the bill's "ambition and objectives".[48][49] In the 2024–26 session, a successor bill introduced by Roz Savage was adjourned at second reading in January 2025 after the government declined to formally support it. Following the adjournment, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband pledged to work on the "spirit and substance" of the bill, including through legislation.[50][51]
Blake chairs the cross-party Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus and serves as a parliamentary species champion for the hen harrier.[52][53][54]
In June 2025, Blake voted against the government's Planning and Infrastructure Bill at report stage, one of fifteen Labour MPs to do so. She tabled amendments in her name requiring that environmental delivery plans include specific conservation strategies for protected species within local nature recovery areas, arguing that "protecting nature is not optional" and warning that the bill as drafted risked local species extinctions.[55]
Miscarriage policy
In a parliamentary debate on baby loss in November 2020, Blake spoke about her own experience of miscarriage and called for the three-miscarriage rule — under which support was only offered after a third pregnancy loss — to be scrapped. Following her intervention, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists published updated guidelines in October 2021, recommending that support be offered after a first miscarriage. She also successfully campaigned to allow one partner to be present at all times with pregnant mothers during the pandemic.[56][57] In July 2023, alongside Myleene Klass, she secured further changes to the Women's Health Strategy for women who have experienced miscarriage.[58] Blake also co-sponsored the Bereavement Leave and Pay (Stillborn and Miscarried Babies) Bill, introduced by Sarah Owen, and the Fertility Treatment (Right to Time Off) Bill, introduced by Alice Macdonald.[59][60]
SEND policy
In a February 2022 Westminster Hall debate on special educational needs and children's mental health services, Blake disclosed that she had been diagnosed with ADHD the previous year, adding to earlier diagnoses of dyslexia and dyspraxia. Recalling being called "lazy", "distracted" and "in disarray" as a child, she criticised the education system's approach and called for better support for young people with learning differences.[61][62][63]
Migration policy
In March 2023, Blake tabled an amendment to the government's Illegal Migration Bill to create a "safe passage" visa — modelled on the Homes for Ukraine scheme — giving entry clearance to those already in Europe wishing to come to the UK to make an asylum claim. The amendment, developed with Care4Calais and PCS, attracted over 40 signatures, and Blake met with Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to discuss incorporating elements into Labour Party policy. The amendment was not adopted and the bill received Royal Assent in July 2023.[64][65] In May 2025, Blake was one of only four Labour MPs to vote against the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill on two occasions, defying the party whip on amendments relating to immigration enforcement.[66]
Gaza policy
In response to the Gaza war, Blake called publicly for Labour to back an immediate ceasefire.[67][68] When the SNP tabled a ceasefire amendment to the King's Speech in November 2023, Blake was absent from Parliament due to medical treatment in Sheffield. She issued a statement making clear that her "position has been consistent and clear: an immediate ceasefire is the only way to halt the horrific loss of life", and that had she been able to attend she "would absolutely vote for an immediate ceasefire".[69]
Constituency matters
Blake has expressed support for improved transport links for Sheffield to address the climate crisis.[70] In 2020, she wrote to the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps asking him to consider the reopening of the Millhouses and Ecclesall station, suggesting it would reduce congestion in the area.[71] Alongside Louise Haigh, Blake launched a campaign to reopen railway stations along the Sheaf Valley line, seeking to reopen Millhouses and Heeley stations and increase capability at Dore and Totley.[72]
In December 2022, a burst Yorkshire Water main flooded the Cadent Gas network in Stannington, leaving more than 3,000 homes in Stannington, Hillsborough and Malin Bridge without heating or hot water for up to two weeks. Sheffield City Council declared a major incident.[73][74] Blake stationed members of her constituency staff at Lomas Hall throughout the incident, led door-knocking teams to identify vulnerable residents, and raised the matter in a Commons debate on 7 December, calling for direct government assistance and emergency funding.[75] In the aftermath, she urged Yorkshire Water to invest its profits in upgrading ageing infrastructure, and following a meeting with Blake, the company agreed to meet compensation claims for water damage from affected residents.[76][77]
In July 2025, Blake voted three times against the government's Universal Credit Bill, opposing the reduction of the health top-up element of universal credit for new claimants — a measure she argued would push hundreds of thousands of disabled people into deeper poverty, including in her constituency.[78][79]
In November 2024, Blake voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposed to legalise assisted suicide, but fell at the end of the session.[80]
Personal life
Blake and Lewis Dagnall, whom she met through the Labour Party, married on 1 June 2019. Dagnall served as a Sheffield councillor, representing Gleadless Valley, and holding cabinet responsibility for environment and climate change, before stepping down in 2019.[10]
In a February 2023 parliamentary debate on LGBT History Month, she stated that she was a bisexual.[81]
Blake's mother, Judith Blake, Baroness Blake of Leeds, is a Labour politician who led Leeds City Council from 2015 to 2021, becoming its first female leader.[82][83]
Electoral history
| Date of election | Constituency | Party | Votes | % of votes | Result | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 by-election | Fulwood, Sheffield | Labour | 1,035 | 19.5 |  Not elected |
||
| 2014 local elections | Walkley, Sheffield | Labour | 2,061 | 39.5 |  Elected |
||
| 2015 local elections | Walkley, Sheffield | Labour | 4,016 | 41.5 | Elected |
[84] | |
| 2016 local elections | Walkley, Sheffield | Labour | 2,686 | 49.0 | Elected |
[84] | |
| Date of election | Constituency | Party | Votes | % of votes | Result | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Sheffield Hallam | Labour | 19,709 | 34.6 | Elected |
[15] | |
| 2024 | Sheffield Hallam | Labour | 23,875 | 46.3 | Elected |
[20] | |
