Alison Lowe


Alison Natalie Kay Lowe is a British Labour politician. She was the first black woman Leeds City Councillor, serving from 1990 to 2019, and has served as the Chief Executive of Touchstone, a mental health charity based in Leeds, since 2004.
Lowe won the 2014 Forward Business Woman of the Year award and Stonewall Senior Champion of the Year in 2015.

Personal life

Born in September 1964, Lowe's father had emigrated to Leeds from St Kitts in 1956 and her Leeds-born mother, Kay, was of Irish descent. Her mother became pregnant with Lowe at 20 years old and was subsequently evicted from her family home.
Lowe was raised with her three siblings in Seacroft and attended Parklands Girls High School. After marrying at 20 years old, she had two children at 21 and 23. Her eldest child is poet and writer Adam Lowe. Lowe and her family participated in the ITV fly-on-the-wall documentary, Family Life, in 1999.
She studied History at the University of Leeds, beginning her undergraduate degree three weeks after the birth of her second child in 1987. Following the completion of a thesis on Edward II of England in 1990, entitled 'Homosexuality in the Middle Ages', Lowe later graduated with a master's degree in Medieval Studies in 1993.

Career

Whilst studying at university, Lowe was elected to Leeds City Council to represent Armley ward in 1990, thus becoming first black woman councillor to serve on the council.. She held multiple positions during her time in office, including Deputy Lord Mayor, an Executive Member and Chairman of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel.
Alongside her commitments as a Leeds City Councillor, Lowe worked for numerous homelessness charities before, in 2004, she became CEO of Touchstone, a Leeds-based mental health charity.
After 29 years' continuous service, she retired from the council at the 2019 election and, in 2020, was made an honorary alderwoman of Leeds. One of her first roles in this capacity was to chair a review of statues in the city in response to criticisms of the city's statuary in connection with the Black Lives Matter movement.
She previously attempted to become a Labour Party prospective parliamentary candidate on multiple occasions but was never selected by a Constituency Labour Party. She was shortlisted but lost the Leeds North East candidate selection for the 1997 general election to Liz Davies. Ahead of the 2010 election, Rachel Reeves beat Lowe for Leeds West, despite Lowe being a local councillor within the constituency. Most recently, before the 2015 election, Jo Cox was selected over Lowe for Batley and Spen, although Lowe lived in Birstall in the constituency.