Helen Hayes

Helen Hayes is shadow minister in the cabinet office and Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood. With a background in town planning, including founding and running her own company, Urban Practitioners, Hayes began her political career in 2010 when she became a councillor on Southwark Council. She was elected as the MP for Dulwich and West Norwood at the 2015 general election, after Dame Tessa Jowell stood down, and joined the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, which she remained a member of until 2019. Re-elected at the 2017 general election with an increased majority, Hayes has been involved in several All Party Parliamentary Groups, serving as vice-chair of the groups for Housing and Planning and Air Pollution, as well as serving on the groups for Brain Tumours, Excellence in the Built Environment and Climate Change. Her re-election in 2019 comfortably saw off a challenge from Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley, and she has called for better protection and support for Transgender rights and for a public health approach to UK drugs policy. Hayes resigned from her shadow minister for the cabinet office position in December 2020 in opposition to Labour’s stance on the Brexit deal.