Luke Pollard is the Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, having first been elected to Parliament in 2017. He was re-elected in the 2019 General Election with a majority of 4,757.
The constituency of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport was won by the Labour Party from the Conservatives in 2017, and in recent years has bucked the national voting trend. Containing the Devonport naval base, home to some of Britain’s nuclear submarines, the seat also has close to twenty thousand student voters from Plymouth University. The seat contains the centre of Plymouth itself.
Pollard has served as Shadow Armed Forces minister since 2022. Previously Luke Pollard served as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural affairs between 2020 and 2021. He was removed from the Shadow Cabinet by Sir Keir Starmer in November 2021.
Born in 1980, Pollard grew up in Plymouth and is the son of a submariner who worked at the Devonport base. Pollard studied politics at the University of Exeter, where he was President of the Students Union.
After university, he worked as an advisor to the Labour politicians David Jamieson and George Foulkes before becoming account director at the public relations and public affairs consultancy firm, Edelman. After that he worked as head of public affairs for the Association of British Travel Agents.
Pollard is Plymouth’s first ever openly gay Member of Parliament. He lives with his boyfriend, Sydney, who is a contemporary dancer. In has detailed how he has been on the receiving end of homophobic abuse, including in the 2019 General Election.
Pollard is a keen wild swimmer, and has campaigned for the creation of marine national parks. He also has called for the extension of the M5 to Plymouth.
He enjoys playing football and hockey.
Luke Pollard is the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Dance; Hockey; and the Mayflower 400. He is Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Hospitality and Tourism; Religious Education; Shipbuilding and Ship Repair; Social Media; South West; Armed Forces, and Carbon Monoxide.
Email: luke.pollard.mp@parliament.uk
Website – www.lukepollard.org
Twitter – @LukePollard
