Oliver Coppard | |
|---|---|
 Oliver Coppard in 2024 | |
| Mayor of South Yorkshire | |
| Assumed office 9 May 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Dan Jarvis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Oliver James Coppard 9 June 1981 South Yorkshire,England |
| Political party | Labour Co-op |
| Alma mater | University of Leeds (BA) |
Oliver James Coppard (born 9 June 1981) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician serving as Mayor of South Yorkshire since 2022. [1] He was re-elected in 2024. [2]
Coppard attended Silverdale School and High Storrs School.
He was awarded a bachelor's degree in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from the University of Leeds. [3] During his tenure at Leeds,he interned in the office of Dick Gephardt,then the Democratic Leader in the US House of Representatives. Coppard later interned in the office of Meg Munn when she was Member of Parliament for Sheffield Heeley. [4]
At the 2004 Sheffield City Council election,Coppard was one of three Labour candidates who unsuccessfully contested Graves Park.
Coppard volunteered for the Obama camapaign for the 2012 US presidential election. He was director of the remain campaign in Yorkshire,the Humber and Lincolnshire for the 2016 European Union referendum.
Coppard stood in Sheffield Hallam at the 2015 general election,against then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. [5] He failed to defeat Clegg but achieved a swing of over 16% from the Liberal Democrats to Labour. Coppard has stated that he chose not to contest the seat in 2019 due to Labour antisemitism. [6]
In the 2022 South Yorkshire mayoral election,Coppard was selected as the Labour candidate. [7] [4] He won the election,getting a plurality of votes in the first round,at 43.1% and defeating the Conservative candidate Clive Watkinson by a margin of 71.4% to 28.6% in the second round. [8] [9] [1]
On 12 March 2024,Coppard announced £2.2 million funding to provide a safe space to sleep for every child aged 0-5 in South Yorkshire. [10] Coppard told the Yorkshire Post that he established the programme because he knew that 'one in nine babies that go home from hospital in Sheffield alone go home without a safe place to sleep' and they can 'end up sleeping in a bath or a box,a drawer,in a bouncy chair'. [11]
On 22 March 2024,under Coppard's leadership the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority formally brought the Supertram under public control. [12] This move was welcomed by commentators,with Matthew Topham from Better Buses for South Yorkshire calling 'a day of celebration when our local transport will be run by and for the people it serves' [13] and a Sheffield Councillor called it a 'brave decision' that deserves 'all of our support' in a column for the Sheffield Telegraph .' [14]
Coppard is a resident of Sheffield. He is Jewish. [15] Coppard is the Board Chair at the Sheffield Hallam Students' Union.
Sheffield Hallam is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Olivia Blake of the Labour Party.
The South Yorkshire Supertram,sometimes referred to as the Sheffield Supertram,is a tram and tram-train network covering Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire,England. The network is owned and operated by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).
Sheffield station is a combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield,England;it is the busiest station in South Yorkshire,and the third busiest in Yorkshire &the Humber. Adjacent is Sheffield station/Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Supertram stop.
The City of Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire,England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Sheffield,the town of Stocksbridge and the larger village of Chapeltown and part of the Peak District. It has a population of 566,242 (2022),making it technically the third largest city in England by population behind Birmingham and Leeds,since London is not considered a single entity. It is governed by Sheffield City Council.
The City of Doncaster is a metropolitan borough with city status in South Yorkshire,England. It is named after its principal settlement,Doncaster,and includes the surrounding suburbs of Doncaster as well as numerous towns and villages. The district has large amounts of countryside;at 219 square miles (570 km2),it is the largest metropolitan borough in England by area.
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg is a British media executive and former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam from 2005 to 2017. An "Orange Book" liberal,he has been associated with both socially liberal and economically liberal policies. In 2018,Clegg became vice‑president of global affairs and communications at Facebook,Inc.,before being promoted in 2022 to president for global affairs.
Sheffield Central is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Paul Blomfield,a member of the Labour Party.
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Olivia Frances Blake is a British Labour politician,who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam since 2019.
The Yorkshire Party is a regionalist political party in Yorkshire,a historic county of England. The party,which was founded in 2014,campaigns for the establishment of a devolved Yorkshire Parliament within the United Kingdom,with powers over education,environment,transportation and housing.
The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner was the police and crime commissioner of the South Yorkshire Police in South Yorkshire.
The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner by-election was a 2014 by-election on 30 October 2014 for the position of Police and Crime Commissioner in the South Yorkshire Police region of the United Kingdom. It was triggered by the resignation of Shaun Wright,the inaugural South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner,who stepped down from the position on 16 September 2014 following the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal. Wright had been head of children's services in Rotherham between 2005 and 2010,while events surrounding the scandal were taking place. The Labour candidate,Alan Billings,was elected.
The 2017 United Kingdom general election in England was held on Thursday 8 June 2017 across 533 constituencies within England.
Jared Cain O'Mara is a British convicted fraudster and former Labour politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam from 2017 to 2019.
The Mayor of South Yorkshire is a combined authority mayor,first elected in May 2018,who chairs the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. The office is currently held by Oliver Coppard.
The inaugural Sheffield City Region mayoral election was held on 3 May 2018 to elect the mayor of the Sheffield City Region. The mayor will lead the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority. Voting is restricted to the four councils which are constituent members of the combined authority:Barnsley,Doncaster,Rotherham and Sheffield. Together these councils make up South Yorkshire.
Shaffaq Mohammed is a British politician who served as a Liberal Democrats Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Yorkshire and the Humber from 2019 to 2020.
The 2022 South Yorkshire mayoral election took place on 5 May 2022 to elect the Mayor of South Yorkshire,the leader of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. It took place alongside other local elections across the United Kingdom. The Labour Party candidate,Oliver Coppard,won the election in the second round with 71.4% of the vote.
The 2024 South Yorkshire mayoral election was held on 2 May 2024 to elect the mayor of South Yorkshire as part of the 2024 United Kingdom local elections.