Emma Hardy

Emma Hardy, shadow education minister, has been the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle since 2017. After spending ten years as a primary school teacher, Hardy’s transition into politics was sparked by her involvement in a campaign to protest against the cuts made by former-Education Secretary Michael Gove. She gave up teaching in 2015, becoming a full-time organiser for the National Union of Teachers, as well as serving as deputy general secretary of the Socialist Educational Association. Since being elected MP, Hardy served two years on the Education Committee and as parliamentary private secretary to Keir Starmer in his position as shadow Brexit secretary. Hardy was part of a successful 2018 campaign to include menstrual wellbeing to be included in sex and relationship education in schools, as well as successfully campaigning locally for funds for a new Children and Adolescent Mental Health Unit in Hull. In the last parliament, she chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Oracy and is a patron for the organisation Articulacy, which strives to inspire individuals to become articulate and confident. She was appointed shadow education minister in January 2020.