Meg Hillier

Meg Hillier, Labour and Co-operative MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, has had an impressive and varied political career. Starting out as a journalist, she became a councillor for the Sussex ward on the London Borough of Islington in 1994, becoming the youngest-ever mayor of Islington in 1998. After joining the London Assembly, Hillier won the safe Labour seat of Hackney South & Shoreditch at the 2005 general election. Hillier has held a number of roles in parliament, including as parliamentary private secretary to Ruth Kelly (when communities secretary), parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Home Office (in which role she was tasked with promoting the National Identity Card scheme), shadow Home Office minister and shadow energy and climate change secretary. Hillier was elected chair of the Public Accounts Committee in 2015, a position she holds today along with a seat on the Liaison Committee. She was a staunch opponent of Brexit and unsuccessfully stood for election as Speaker at the House of Commons. Hillier was re-elected in 2019 with a commanding majority of 33,985 and has recently spoken on the cladding scandal and lack of funding in further education.