Polly Billington

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Polly Billington
EducationUrsuline High School Wimbledon
Occupations
  • Politician
  • Environmentalist
Political partyLabour Party

Polly Billington (born 1967) is a campaigner and politician who worked as a journalist before becoming a special advisor to Ed Miliband. She was the media director for his successful bid in the 2010 Labour leadership election.[1] Billington is the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for East Thanet[2] and previously was the candidate for Thurrock at the 2015 general election and a Labour Party official. She founded UK100,[3] and was a councillor until 2024 for De Beauvoir ward in the London Borough of Hackney.

Education[edit]

Billington went to the Ursuline High School in Wimbledon and Sussex University before taking a postgraduate diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the department of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Central Lancashire in 1993.[4]

Professional career[edit]

Billington was a BBC reporter for the Today programme, News 24, the 'Politics Show' 'Newsbeat and on Radio 1 as the first ever dedicated Political Reporter for Newsbeat.

Polly was the Head of Communications and Campaigns at Citizens Advice from Jan 2013 - January 2015, coordinating campaigns on energy, welfare and payday loans, before resigning to fight the highly marginal three-way contest of Thurrock at the General Election. [5]

Billington founded UK100 in 2016,[3] the only network for UK locally elected leaders who have pledged to play their part in the global effort to avoid the worst impacts of climate change by switching to 100% clean energy by 2050. The most ambitious - UK100's Net Zero Local Leadership Club.[6] - are doing everything within their power to get their communities to Net Zero as soon as possible, and by 2045 at the latest.

She served as the CEO until February 2023 when she was selected as Labour's parliamentary candidate for South Thanet. [7]

She received the Business Green Leader of the Year Award in 2023. “The judges hailed Polly Billington for her inspirational role in establishing UK100 as one of the most respected and important voices on climate policy in the UK - an achievement that has provided hundreds of local government leaders with the tools, support, and guidance they need to catalyse the net zero transition right across the real economy.”[8]

UK100 is funded by various grant-giving organisations.[9] One is the IKEA Foundation [10] who awarded UK100 £350,000 in 2022 and £456,000 in 2021.. UK100's total income from grants in 2022 was £1.2 million and in 2021, £1.35 million. Politico Europe reported in May 2023 that Billington had accepted a Senior Adviser role at the PR lobbying firm Hanover Communications - in their election planning team.[11]

Politics[edit]

She became a special adviser to Ed Miliband in 2007 when he was working on party policy and election strategy in the Cabinet Office[12] and according to The Daily Telegraph she was the 59th most influential person on the UK left in 2011.[13]

Billington sought to become a parliamentary candidate in February 2010, when she was shortlisted for the safe Labour seat of North Tyneside. She was the media director for Ed Miliband's successful Labour leadership bid.[14] Some credited her with honing his questions and replies to David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions.[15][16]

In November 2011, Billington launched another bid to be selected as a Labour MP, this time in Thurrock.[17] This time she gained the nomination for a marginal seat. She was one of 15 Labour candidates each given financial support of £10,000 by Lord Matthew Oakeshott the former Liberal Democrat in January 2015.[18] The tight three-way contest resulted in a Tory hold by 536 votes over Billington with UKIP coming third.

Billington worked on Sadiq Khan's campaign to be selected as Labour’s candidate to be Mayor of London, leading on communications. [19]

She was one of two Labour Party councillors elected to De Beauvoir ward in the 2018 Hackney London Borough Council election, with 1,448 votes.[20] She was reelected in 2022, with 1,400 votes.[21]

She has served as Chair of the Skills Economy and Growth Commission at Hackney Council since 2021.

Among other roles, Billington has served as an Executive Member of SERA, Labour's Environment Campaign[22] and is on the advisory group of Labour Climate and Environment Forum. [23]

On 24 February 2023 she was selected by local party members as the parliamentary candidate for East Thanet at the next general election.[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Channel Four, Who Knows Who". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  2. ^ "Polly Billington for East Thanet". Polly Billington. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b "UK100". Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  4. ^ "University of Central Lancashire, Graduate returns for the Newsbeat challenge". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  5. ^ "Citizen Advice hires Top Labour advisor Polly Billington". Retrieved 27 February 2013.
  6. ^ "UK100 members". Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Labour's Polly Billington selected to fight for current South Thanet seat in next General Election". 27 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023.}
  8. ^ "UK Green Business Awards: And the winner is..." 30 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  9. ^ "UK100 | Frequently asked questions | UK100". www.uk100.org. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  10. ^ Heerkens, Indra (1 April 2022). "Polly Billington, UK100: "To achieve net zero, we must unleash the potential of local government"". IKEA Foundation. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  11. ^ "London Influence: Hanover's Labour grab — Open government latest — Meet Ridgeway". POLITICO. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Civil Service Live Network". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  13. ^ "The Top 100 Most Influential People on the Left 2011: 51–75". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  14. ^ "Channel Four, Who Knows Who". Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  15. ^ "Ed Miliband's Dartmouth Park posse". 12 April 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  16. ^ "Top 100 most influential figures from the Left 2012: 51-100". The Daily Telegraph. London. 3 October 2012.
  17. ^ "Polly Billington's Bid For Thurrock – An Escape From Ed Strategy?". 14 October 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  18. ^ "Former Lib Dem Lord Oakeshott donates £300,000 to Labour candidates". New Statesman. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  19. ^ "Who's who on Team Sadiq". 22 May 2015.
  20. ^ "Borough councillors election 2018". hackney.gov.uk. Hackney Council. 4 May 2018. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  21. ^ "Council election results". hackney.gov.uk. Hackney Council. 6 May 2022.
  22. ^ "SERA's 2016/17 Executive Committee". SERA - Labour's Environment Campaign. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  23. ^ "LCEF who we are".
  24. ^ Neame, Katie (27 February 2023). "Two more local Labour Parties select their next parliamentary candidates". LabourList | Latest UK Labour Party news, analysis and comment. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
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