![]() | This article's subject is standing for re-election to the British House of Commons on 4 July, and has not been an MP since the dissolution of Parliament on 30 May. This article may be out of date during this period. |
Kim Leadbeater | |
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![]() Official portrait, 2021 | |
Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen | |
In office 1 July 2021 –30 May 2024 | |
Preceded by | Tracy Brabin |
Majority | 323 (0.9%) |
Personal details | |
Born | Kim Michele Leadbeater 1 May 1976 Dewsbury,West Yorkshire,England |
Political party | Labour |
Domestic partner | Clare |
Relatives | Jo Cox (sister) |
Alma mater | |
Kim Michele Leadbeater [1] MBE ( /ˈlɛdbiːtər/ ; born 1 May 1976) [2] is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen since 2021.
Kim Leadbeater was born on 1 May 1976 in Dewsbury, to parents Jean and Gordon. [2] She is the younger sister of former MP Jo Cox (1974–2016). Kim attended Heckmondwike Grammar School, and says that she has lived in "every little bit of" the local area. [3] Leadbeater went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in health-related exercise and fitness from Leeds Beckett University in 2005 and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from the University of Huddersfield in 2008. [3] [4]
Before moving into politics, Leadbeater was a lecturer in physical health at Bradford College, and has worked as a personal trainer. [5]
On 23 May 2021, Leadbeater was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the Batley and Spen by-election. Upon her selection, Leadbeater declared that she was "the candidate the Tories fear". Her selection proved controversial, as Leadbeater had been selected despite only joining the party in recent weeks; the rule requiring that candidates should be a member of the party for a year before being nominated was waived. [6] [7] She had previously been a member of the Labour Party but let this lapse following the murder of her sister when she helped found the Jo Cox Foundation on a non-party basis.
At the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election, Leadbeater was elected to Parliament as MP for Batley and Spen with 35.3% of the vote and a majority of 323. [8] Leadbeater made her maiden speech on 9 September 2021 during a debate on her sister's legacy. [9]
In her first six months in parliament, her two longest speeches were tributes to her sister and to David Amess, another MP who was murdered in October 2021. She argued that the safety of MPs was not being taken seriously enough, and she called for anonymity on social media to become an exception to combat a culture of abuse. [10]
In June 2023 she wrote a report, published by the Fabian Society: Healthy Britain: a new approach to health and wellbeing policy. [11]
In November 2022, she criticised the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which proposed the breakup of her Batley and Spen constituency. [12] She announced in May 2023 that she intends to stand for the new constituency of Spen Valley at the 2024 general election, following changes made by the Boundary Commission which would abolish the Batley and Spen and create Spen Valley and Dewsbury and Batley. [13] [14]
As of June 2023 [update] she is chair of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) on Sport and Tidy Britain, co-chair of the groups on Political Literacy and on Tackling Loneliness and Connected Communities, and vice-chair or officer of several others. [15]
Leadbeater lives in her constituency with her partner Clare. [5] Outside politics, her main interests are hockey and sport. [2]
In 2020, she was appointed President of West Yorkshire Scouts. [16]
Her older sister, Jo Cox, had served as the MP for Batley and Spen from May 2015 until her murder in June 2016; Leadbeater contributed to the 2017 book Jo Cox: More in Common. [2] [17] [7]
In 2018, Leadbeater was awarded the UK's one thousandth Points of Light award by Prime Minister Theresa May for having "rejected the hate that marked [her] sister's murder to continue Jo's work and ensure that Jo's determination to change the world has lived on." [18]
In the 2021 New Year Honours, Leadbeater was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "[f]or services to Social Cohesion, to the community in Batley, West Yorkshire and to Combatting Loneliness during Covid-19", when she was described in The London Gazette as "Ambassador, Jo Cox Foundation and Chair, More in Common Batley and Spen". [19] [20]
The Spectator named her as 2021's "Newcomer of the Year". [21]
Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the population was 48,730.
Cleckheaton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Bradford, east of Brighouse, west of Batley and south-west of Leeds. It is at the centre of the Spen Valley and was the major town in the former borough of Spenborough. Cleckheaton has a history as a mill town and forms part of the Heavy Woollen District.
Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. The borough comprises the ten towns of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite. It is governed by Kirklees Council. Kirklees had a population of 422,500 in 2011; it is the third-largest metropolitan district in England by area, behind Doncaster and Leeds.
Heckmondwike is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, 9 miles (14 km) south west of Leeds. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge. It is mostly in the Batley and Spen parliamentary constituency, and had an estimated population of 16,986 at the 2011 Census increasing to 18,149 at the 2021 Census. Heckmondwike forms part of the Heavy Woollen District.
Dewsbury was a constituency created in 1868 and abolished in 2024.
Batley and Spen was a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The most recent MP was Kim Leadbeater, a Labour politician, elected in a 2021 by-election by a 323-vote margin. The seat had returned Labour MPs since the 1997 general election.
Heckmondwike Grammar School (HGS) is an 11–18 mixed, grammar school and sixth form with academy status in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, England.
Spen Valley is a parliamentary constituency in the valley of the River Spen in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Tracy Lynn Brabin is a British politician who has served as the Mayor of West Yorkshire since the office was established on 10 May 2021. She previously was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen from 2016 to 2021 under the Labour and Co-operative banner.
Kirklees College is a further education college with two main centres in the towns of Dewsbury and Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England.
Helen Joanne Cox was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen from May 2015 until her murder in June 2016. She was a member of the Labour Party.
Paula Michelle Sherriff is a British Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury from 2015 to 2019.
On 20 October 2016, a by-election was held in the UK parliamentary constituency of Batley and Spen. It was triggered by the murder of the incumbent member of parliament (MP), Jo Cox, on 16 June 2016. The Labour candidate, Tracy Brabin, won with 85.8% of the vote. Four parties with parliamentary representation did not enter candidates, out of respect for Cox. Nine candidates contested against Labour, and none reached the 5% threshold to keep their deposit.
On 16 June 2016, Jo Cox, a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen, died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, West Yorkshire. In November 2016, 53-year-old Thomas Alexander Mair was found guilty of her murder and other offences connected to the killing in an act of terrorism. The judge concluded that Mair wanted to advance white supremacy and exclusive nationalism most associated with Nazism and its modern forms. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.
Mark Simon Eastwood is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury in the 2019 general election.
The Heavy Woollen District Independents was a political party based in the Heavy Woollen District of West Yorkshire, England. The party was registered with the Electoral Commission on 13 September 2017. Its leader was Aleksandar Lukic-Scott, who was the chairman of UKIP's Dewsbury, Batley and Spen branch until 2017.
The Workers Party of Britain (WPB), also called the Workers Party of Great Britain (WPGB) or Workers Party GB, is a socialist and socially conservative political party in the United Kingdom, led by and identified with politician George Galloway. The party, founded in 2019, secured a parliamentary seat when Galloway won the February 2024 Rochdale by-election.
A by-election was held in the UK parliamentary constituency of Batley and Spen on 1 July 2021, following the resignation of the previous Member of Parliament (MP) Tracy Brabin, who was elected Mayor of West Yorkshire on 10 May. Under the devolution agreement, the position holds the powers and responsibilities of a police and crime commissioner, meaning the occupant of the office cannot simultaneously sit as an MP. The by-election was the fourth of the 58th Parliament, elected in 2019.
Dewsbury and Batley is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it will first be contested in the 2024 general election. The constituency is located in the borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire.
Born Dewsbury 1 May 1976; d of Gordon and Jean Leadbeater ...
The party waived its membership rules to allow Leadbeater to stand and two local councillors who applied, both from the south Asian community, did not make the shortlist.
Newcomer of the year: Kim Leadbeater MP