Tracy Brabin | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| Mayor of West Yorkshire | |||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 10 May 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen | |||||||||||||||
| In office 20 October 2016 – 10 May 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jo Cox | ||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Kim Leadbeater | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||
| Born | 9 May 1961 Batley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | ||||||||||||||
| Political party | Labour Co-op | ||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Loughborough University (BA) University of the Arts London (MA) | ||||||||||||||
| Website | Official Website | ||||||||||||||
Tracy Lynn Brabin (born 9 May 1961) is a British politician who has been the Mayor of West Yorkshire since the office was established on 10 May 2021. She was previously the Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen from 2016 to 2021 under the Labour and Co-operative banner.[1]
Born in Batley, Brabin was an actress and television writer prior to entering politics, appearing in several British soap operas including Coronation Street, Doctors, EastEnders, Casualty and Emmerdale. She was elected for Batley and Spen in an October 2016 by-election after the murder of previous incumbent Jo Cox.
She was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport by Jeremy Corbyn in January 2020, succeeding former Deputy Labour Leader Tom Watson. In April 2020, new Labour Leader Keir Starmer removed Brabin from the shadow cabinet and appointed her Shadow Minister for Cultural Industries.
She resigned as an MP after winning the 2021 West Yorkshire mayoral election. Her resignation triggered a by-election, which Labour's Kim Leadbeater won. She is the first ever woman to serve as a metro-mayor.
She won a second term in the 2024 West Yorkshire mayoral election.
- ^ "Tracy Brabin chosen as Labour mayor candidate for West Yorkshire". BBC News. 11 December 2020. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.