Olivia Blake is the Labour Party MP for Sheffield Hallam, having first been elected to parliament in the 2019 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Blake received 23,875 votes in Sheffield Hallam, representing 46.3% of the vote share. The Liberal Democrat candidate, Shaffaq Mohammed, received 15,686 votes (30.4%), while the Conservative candidate, Isaac Howarth, secured 6,205 votes (12.0%). Blake was duly elected with a majority of 8,189 votes.

The Sheffield Hallam constituency covers the western side of the City of Sheffield, extending into the Peak District. It includes areas like Crookes, Dore, Ecclesall, Fulwood, and Stannington. Historically affluent, it was held by the Conservatives from 1918 until 1997, then by the Liberal Democrats – including former leader Nick Clegg – until 2017, when Labour first won the seat.

Political Career

Blake currently serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs. The role is widely regarded as the first step on the ministerial ladder. Although they cannot speak for the government in debates, a PPS is bound by collective responsibility and becomes part of the so-called “payroll vote”, expected to support the official line in all divisions. Blake was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Blake previously served on the opposition frontbench as shadow minister for climate change and net zero (December 2021 – June 2022) and shadow minister for environment, food and rural affairs (May 2021 – December 2021).

In June 2022, Blake resigned from the frontbench, saying she had her “own personal reasons for wanting to step back”.

In her resignation letter, addressed the Keir Starmer, Blake wrote: “I remain convinced that a Labour green new deal is the only way we will bring about the just transition desperately needed, creating well paid, secure, unionised jobs in every part of the country whilst meeting our global net-zero commitments.”

She added: “I want to be the best representative I can be for Sheffield Hallam. At this moment I believe that means giving even more of my focus to this aspect of my work.”

In September 2020, Blake resigned from her position as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Jo Stevens as shadow culture secretary and Ian Murray as shadow Scottish secretary when she, alongside 18 other Labour MPs, defied the Labour whip and voted against the Overseas Operations Bill.

In a statement, Blake argued that the bill “effectively grants impunity for some of the most serious crimes someone can commit, provided the offences are carried out abroad and by a member of military personnel.”

She added: “I’m sad to leave my frontbench roles, but I’ll continue to support [Labour leader] Keir Starmer from the backbenches, represent my constituency to the best of my ability and fight for the Labour government this country desperately needs – a government which invests in our economy, stands up for climate justice, and rebuilds our public services.”

Blake introduced the Climate and Ecology Bill in May 2023 under the 10-minute rule procedure in the House of Commons. The bill aimed to establish binding climate and nature targets for the United Kingdom. In an article for LabourList, Blake wrote: “Nature isn’t… nice to have; it’s all we have. Nature provides our best chance of mitigating climate change and its worst impacts, such as extreme flooding and drought.

“Put simply, we can’t solve the climate crisis without saving our key ecosystems, restoring habitats and protecting our much beloved species.”

In March 2023, Blake tabled an amendment to the government’s Illegal Migration Bill, aiming to create a “safe passage” visa which gives entry clearance to those already in Europe wishing to come to the UK to make an asylum claim.

In an article for the Independent, Blake wrote: “The safe passage visa would grant access to the UK to someone in Europe based on whether an applicant would have a valid asylum claim – as set out in the current immigration rules – when they arrive. Most of the screening and processing associated [with] the claim itself would therefore happen as normal in the UK.

“The vast majority of people who come here irregularly, on a small boat, make an asylum claim; and overwhelmingly those applications are accepted. They make the dangerous crossing not because they are less likely to be granted refuge, but because there is no other way for them to enter the UK. In providing them an alternative, we remove the need to risk life and limb – thereby saving lives.”

Blake has spoken publicly about her experience of miscarriage. In a Westminster Hall debate on baby loss in August 2020, Blake called for changes to NHS rules regarding partners’ presence during pregnancy appointments during the pandemic.

She said: “This debate is very difficult for me. I had not planned to talk about my experience today, because the experience of many of my constituents and the stories from up and down the country show that lessons desperately need to be learned and more support is needed for how we care for people through the covid crisis.

“However, after hearing the contributions from other hon. Members, I feel that it is only fair that I share my story.”

She added: “My thoughts go out to all those families who are facing bereavement and baby loss and miscarriage at this time. I want to focus, particularly, on partners being able to attend appointments, emergency and otherwise, and on mental health and redeployment of key staff.

“We need to recognise that this is not just a short-term challenge and we could be seeing many more months of disruption as a result of Covid-19.”

Blake described the isolating experience of “being unable to have a hug or someone to hold my hand or support me on hearing the news that I was having a miscarriage” and called on the government to “do more” to ensure that no woman has to go through a similar experience.

Following this speech, Blake launched a successful campaign calling for rule changes so that women would not have to endure three miscarriages before receiving support. Under the then rules, women were only entitled to support or care after their third miscarriage.

Speaking in a commons adjournment debate on 17 June 2021, Blake said that the “three-miscarriages rule has to end”, adding: “We would not expect someone to go through three heart attacks before we tried to find out what was wrong and treat them, so why do we expect women to go through three – in some cases preventable – losses before they are offered the answers and treatments they need?”

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Blake has sat as a member of the House of Commons environmental audit committee (2024-2026) and the public accounts committee (2020-2021 and 2022-2024).

Blake is a patron of LGBT+ Labour – a socialist society formally affiliated with the Labour Party.

Blake is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for eating disorders, local nature recovery, migration and special educational needs and disabilities.

Blake delivered her maiden speech on 15 January 2020 during a debate on a green industrial revolution. In it, she spoke about Sheffield Hallam’s “very long history of social justice”, referencing local folklore linking Robin Hood to Loxley within the constituency, suggesting she was “not the first person in Sheffield Hallam to stand on a platform of redistributing wealth”.

She added: “The climate chaos that we all face is unprecedented. Now is not the time for propriety; it is the old way of doing things that brought us to this crisis…

“My constituents told me that they wanted me to transform our economy and save our environment. It is this agenda that I will fight for in the House – an agenda that stands up for our planet and redistributes power and wealth into the hands of our people.”

Before entering parliament, Blake was elected as a Labour councillor for the Walkley ward on Sheffield City Council in 2014, serving until 2020. She served as deputy leader of Sheffield City Council from 2017 to 2019.

Political Views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Starmer stand down: In May 2026, Blake publicly called for Keir Starmer, the prime minister, to step down/set out a timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

Labour leadership 2020: Blake was one of 33 Labour MPs who nominated Rebecca Long-Bailey for the party’s leadership in early 2020. The election was triggered by the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn following the party’s defeat in the 2019 general election, which resulted in Labour’s fewest seats in the House of Commons since 1935.

Long-Bailey, then the shadow business secretary, was widely regarded as the continuity candidate for the party’s left/Corbynite wing. Long-Bailey finished second with 27.6% of the vote, losing to Keir Starmer, who won a decisive victory in the first round with 56.2%.

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Blake was one of 24 Labour MPs who nominated Bell Ribeiro-Addy for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Ribeiro-Addy, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG), was seen as the candidate on the left of the party. She secured only 24 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), far short of the 80 required under rules introduced in 2021.

Factional identity and party tradition

Socialist Campaign Group: Blake has been listed as a member of the SCG – the standard-bearer of the left wing within the PLP. Founded in 1982 by followers of Tony Benn, the group has traditionally advocated policies such as widespread public ownership, wealth redistribution and strengthened trade union rights.

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Corbyn suspension: In November 2020, Blake was among the 32 SCG MPs to sign a statement declaring that they opposed the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn and calling for the disciplinary action to be “swiftly reversed”.

The statement read: “This decision and the division it causes severely undermines efforts to unite to defeat antisemitism and fully implement the EHRC [Equality and Human Rights Commission] recommendations and to challenge and defeat this disastrous Conservative government.”

Corbyn’s suspension came after he issued a response to the EHRC report, arguing “the scale of the [antisemitism] problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents”.

Momentum endorsement: Blake was endorsed by the left-wing campaign group Momentum in the 2024 general election. Momentum was founded in 2015 to support the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and to campaign for socialist policies within the Labour party.

Mainstream: Blake is a member of Mainstream, a centre-left network within the Labour Party. The group was launched in September 2025 by the think tank Compass and the activist group Open Labour. It describes itself as a home for “Labour’s radical realists” and aims to influence the direction of the Labour government. It has called on the government to offer a “popular, principled and practical left politics for meaningful change.”

Compass has described the group as “an independent vehicle with the sole task of saving the Labour Party from its clear drift to the right and the unintended paving of the way to a Reform government.”

The group is backed by a number of senior Labour figures, including the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and includes MPs and peers from various traditions within the party – from the left, soft left and the more progressive elements of New Labour.

Green new deal champion: Blake is listed as one of activist group Green New Deal Rising’s “cross-party green new deal champions”. GNDR is a progressive campaign organisation which promotes rapid decarbonisation and the transformation of the UK economy with a “Green New Deal” – a long-term plan to tackle climate change with large-scale public investment in renewable energy, green infrastructure and public services.

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Fair elections APPG: Blake is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Spycops vote (2020): In October 2020, Blake was one of the 34 Labour MPs to break the party whip by voting against the covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill at its commons third reading. The proposed legislation, often referred to as the “spycops bill”, was introduced by the Conservative government to authorise undercover agents and informants to commit crimes while on operations. The Labour Party had whipped its representatives to abstain on the bill on the basis that the legislation is “far from perfect” yet “necessary” due to “the need to provide a clear lawful framework for the use of human intelligence sources”.

SERA: Blake is a member of the Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA) – a socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. Founded in 1973, SERA is the party’s official environmental campaign group. The organisation campaigns on a wide range of issues, including renewable energy, biodiversity, air quality and the transition to a green economy. SERA describes its member MPs as “champions for the environment”.

Brexit and Europe

Remain pledge: During the 2019 general election campaign, Blake was one of 193 Labour candidates to sign the anti-Brexit “Remain pledge”, drawn up by the campaign group Remain Labour.

It stated: “Labour is committed to a confirmatory referendum, to give you the final say on Brexit. If elected as your Labour MP, I pledge to campaign to Remain in the EU.”

Brexit trade deal: In December 2020, Blake was among the 37 Labour MPs to rebel against the leadership’s position on the EU (Future Relationship) Bill – which enabled the government to implement and ratify its post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. Keir Starmer, the newly elected Labour leader, argued that while the trade deal negotiated by Boris Johnson’s government was “thin” and flawed, the only alternative at that late stage was a “no-deal” exit. To enforce the leadership’s position, a three-line whip was imposed. Blake abstained over the bill. One Labour MP, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, voted against the bill.

Electoral reform

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Blake was one of over 70 Labour MPs who signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, calling on the government to establish a “national commission on electoral reform”. Tabled by Alex Sobel as chair of the fair elections APPG, the amendment aimed to force a rethink of the first past the post voting system.

At the time, Sobel described FPTP as “one of the biggest examples of a broken status quo in UK politics.” He invited colleagues to join this “common sense call to take a fresh look at how parliament is elected in modern Britain.”

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Blake voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Blake was one of the over 120 Labour MPs to sign the reasoned amendment to the government’s flagship welfare bill which aimed to reject the proposed legislation.

The amendment, in the name of senior Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, objected to the fact that the bill had not been subject to a “formal consultation with disabled people” and that “250,000 people will be pushed into poverty” as a result of it, according to a government impact assessment.

The motion also called on the government to wait for the publication of the review into the Personal Independence Payment (Pip), helmed by minister Sir Stephen Timms, and the independent review, conducted by Sir Charlie Mayfield, into how the employment of disabled people could be boosted.

In May 2025, Blake had signed a letter warning the government that the cuts were “impossible to support” and calling for a change in direction.

The letter, signed by 42 Labour MPs, read: “The planned cuts of more than £7bn represent the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity and over 3 million of our poorest and most disadvantaged will be affected.

“Whilst the government may have correctly diagnosed the problem of a broken benefits system and a lack of job opportunities for those who are able to work, they have come up with the wrong medicine. Cuts don’t create jobs, they just cause more hardship.”

Welfare vote (July 2025): Blake went on to vote against the bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

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Assisted dying

Blake voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

In a statement setting out her position, Blake commented: “It seems to me that the compassionate approach is to allow each individual to make their own choice about their own circumstances. On this basis I voted in favour.”

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Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Blake voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Blake was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

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In November 2023, Blake stated she would have voted for a Scottish National Party (SNP) amendment to the King’s speech calling for ceasefire in the Gaza war had she not been absent from Parliament undergoing medical treatment.

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Before Politics

Born Olivia Frances Blake on 10 March 1990 in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, she grew up in Otley, West Yorkshire. Her mother is Judith Blake, the former leader of Leeds City Council. Blake was educated at Prince Henry’s Grammar School, a state comprehensive school in Otley.

Blake studied biomedical science at the University of Sheffield. While at university, she became active in campaigning, including setting up and running a successful living wage campaign for university staff.

Personal Life

Blake is married to Lewis Dagnall and identifies as bisexual.

In 2024, PinkNews listed Blake among a number of out LGBTQ+ parliamentarians.

In early 2022, Blake spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on special educational needs and children’s mental health services, saying she had been diagnosed with ADHD the previous year, referencing also previous diagnoses of dyslexia and dyspraxia.

Blake recalled being called “lazy, distracted, too chatty, fidgety, failing to meet potential, disorganised and in disarray” as a child.

Criticising the education system’s current approach, she added: “This has led to huge feelings of anxiety and depression – a feeling that I am always doing something wrong. My ADHD was diagnosed only last year, and I have only just started taking medication, which has been life-changing…

“However, I meet too many children whose stories are still the same: their needs are not recognised or are not severe enough to merit critical help, and they are stuck in the middle, reaching their potential in some subjects and failing in others.”

Trivia

Blake’s mother is the Labour peer Baroness Blake of Leeds (Judith Blake), who was appointed as a government whip in the House of Lords in July 2024.