Olivia Blake


Olivia Frances Blake is a British Labour politician. She was elected as the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam at the 2019 general election.

Early life

Blake grew up in Otley, a market town north of Leeds, West Yorkshire. She was educated at Prince Henry's Grammar School, the local comprehensive school. She studied Biomedical Science at the University of Sheffield.

Political career

Offices within the Labour Party (2013–present)

In 2013 Blake stood in the election for the Youth Representative on Labour's National Executive Committee and came second. She campaigned to introduce ‘one member one vote’ elections for internal positions and was supported by the Labour Party's left-wing.
In 2018 Blake was elected to Labour's National Policy Forum with the endorsement of the left-wing groups Momentum and the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance.

Sheffield City Councillor (2014–2020)

Blake unsuccessfully stood in the 2 May 2013 by-election for the Fulwood ward of Sheffield City Council before being elected as a local councillor to the Walkley ward of Sheffield City Council in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Olivia Blake was elected Deputy Leader of the Council in April 2017. Blake said she was elected as Deputy Leader "on a ticket of reform", and worked to in-source council contracts and tackle privatisation. As Deputy Leader, the Council brought its Revenues and Benefits services in-house from outsourcing giant Capita; Blake said that "bringing these services back in-house" would give the Council "greater control and allow to adapt and respond as the city’s priorities develop locally". Before she left her position Blake initiated the process to bring "digital services and cleaning contracts" in-house. She also supported a campaign to initiate a pilot scheme of universal basic income in Sheffield.
Blake later resigned as Deputy Leader to support a grassroots movement to change the democratic structure of the council, remaining as a councillor. She later resigned from the Council following her election as an MP. In an article she wrote for Tribune magazine, Blake said this was to show support for "a new way of doing politics in our city". She indicated that she intends to "contribute a socialist voice to the referendum debate", to open up a "wider discussion on how to rejuvenate our democracy in Sheffield."

Member of Parliament (2019–present)

Blake was selected as the prospective Labour Party candidate in Sheffield Hallam in December 2018. She was elected as the Member of Parliament at the December 2019 general election.
She nominated Rebecca Long-Bailey in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election and Angela Rayner in the 2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election.
In February 2020, Blake was elected as the Treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
Blake was elected to Parliament's Public Accounts Committee in March 2020.
Blake was appointed to the frontbench as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andy McDonald, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, in January 2020. Following the election of Keir Starmer, she was appointed in April as PPS jointly to Jo Stevens, Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Ian Murray, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland.
Blake is Vice-Chair of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union Parliamentary Group.
After Wetherspoons' owner Tim Martin told his 43,000 employees that they would not be furloughed during the covid-19 pandemic, and should go work at Tesco, as Vice-Chair of the BFAWU Parliamentary Group, Blake coordinated a cross-party letter of 95 MPs to calling on Martin to "put people and not profits first" and continue to pay Wetherspoons workers. Following pressure from the trade union and MPs, Martin later publicly reversed his decision not to pay his workers.
In response to food shortages relating to the covid-19 pandemic, Blake tabled an early day motion calling on the government to establish a National Food Service. She later published an article in LabourList calling for national action to "provide food for all and ensure that no one goes hungry". This was linked to the ' campaign to eliminate food insecurity, which Blake has previously indicated support for.
In a zoom talk hosted by ', Blake indicated her support for Labour to take on a community organising model, saying that "Labour has a lot to learn from the likes of Fight for $15 in the US successfully changed the national agenda around low pay, winning respect and dignity for low-wage workers."
Alongside other Sheffield MPs Clive Betts, Paul Blomfield, Gill Furniss and Louise Haigh, Blake opposed Sheffield schools reopening early from lockdown until the Government had a trace-and-trace system in place and could "fully guarantee the safety of pupils, teachers, support staff and their families".
Blake asked her first Prime Minister's Question to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 10 June 2020, quoting figures from the Trussell Trust that show an 89% increase in emergency food parcels needed in May 2020 compared to 2019, adding that "people are struggling and need help right now." Blake opened her question by quoting Bob Marley's song "Slave Driver"—"Today they say that we are free, only to be chained in poverty"—from his 1973 album Catch a Fire, which may make Blake the first person to quote Bob Marley in the Houses of Commons.

Electoral performance

Policies and views

Olivia Blake is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group, the left-wing, democratic socialist grouping of Labour Party Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
A Vice article described Blake as "keen to make clear support for trans rights and the entire LGBTQ+ community".
Olivia Blake supported the UK remaining in the European Union, saying in November 2019 that she would campaign to remain in a potential second referendum on the issue.
In her maiden speech to Parliament, Blake said that the Sheffield Hallam constituency had a "very long history of social justice", as Robin Hood mythology points to a Yorkshire origin in Loxley. She said that Robin of Loxley means she was "not the first person in Sheffield Hallam to stand on a platform of redistributing wealth.”
Blake is a supporter of a "Green New Deal" for the UK, and passionate about the issue of climate change. Blake has expressed support for improved transport links for Sheffield to address the climate crisis. In 2020, she wrote to the transport secretary asking him to consider the reopening of the Millhouses and Ecclesall station, suggesting it would reduce congestion in the area. Alongside Louise Haigh, Blake has launched a campaign to reopen railway stations along the Sheaf Valley line, seeking to reopen Millhouses and Heeley stations, and increase capability at Dore & Totley.

Personal life

Blake's mother Judith Blake is a Labour politician who has led the Leeds City Council since 2015.
Blake is married to Lewis Dagnall, a fellow Sheffield City Councillor.
Blake self isolated over having symptoms of Coronavirus disease 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.