Dan Norris

Mayor Dan Norris
Mayor of the West of England
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 May 2021
Preceded by	Tim Bowles
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Environment
In office 9 June 2009 – 6 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Joan Ruddock
Succeeded by	Richard Benyon (Natural Environment, Water and Rural Affairs)
Member of Parliament for Wansdyke
In office 1 May 1997 – 12 April 2010
Preceded by	Jack Aspinwall
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1960-01-28) 28 January 1960 (age 61) London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	University of Sussex
Website	www.dannorris.org.uk

Dan Norris (born 28 January 1960) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Mayor of the West of England since May 2021. He previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wansdyke from 1997 to 2010.

Norris served in government as the Parliamentary-Under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Environment from 2009 to 2010, and an assistant whip from 2001 to 2003.

Early life[]

Dan Norris was born on 28 January 1960 in London to parents June Noris and David Norris.^[1][2] His mother was a Labour councillor who stood as the candidate for the Northavon constituency in the 1983 general election and the 1992 general election. His father worked as a sales manager and as a social worker.^[1] Norris was educated at Chipping Sodbury Comprehensive School and the University of Sussex, where he completed a master's degree in social work.^[3] He is a former teacher and child protection officer, having trained with the NSPCC.^[1]

Before parliament[]

Norris was a councillor on Bristol City Council from 1989 to 1992 and from 1995 to 1997, and a councillor on Avon County Council from 1993 to 1996, for the Brislington West ward.^[4][5][6] He is a member of the GMB trade union.^[7]

Parliamentary career[]

Norris first stood for parliament in the constituency of Northavon in 1987, losing against the Conservative incumbent, John Cope. In 1992, he was the Labour candidate for Wansdyke in Somerset, coming in second place against the Conservative incumbent, Jack Aspinwall. He contested the Wansdyke seat again in the election of 1997, and this time succeeded in taking it with a majority of 4,799, overturning a Conservative majority of 11,770 votes.^[5] Norris went on to increase his majority to 5,613 in the election of 2001.

Norris has a particular interest in child safety and regularly campaigns against child sexual abuse,^[8] having co-written a free booklet on its prevention. He also co-wrote, produced and distributed a booklet, Don't Bully Me, giving practical advice to children across the United Kingdom on dealing with bullying.^[9]

Norris was an assistant whip for the Treasury from June 2001 to June 2003.^[8][10] In May 2006 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain until June 2007, then PPS to Foreign Secretary David Miliband to January 2009.^[11] In the reshuffle of June 2009 Norris entered government as a minister for the first time, becoming Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Minister for Rural Affairs and Environment).^[12]

The 2005 general election saw his lead over the Conservatives fall to 1,839. Due to changes made by the Boundary Commission for England, the Wansdyke constituency was abolished at the 2010 election. Norris stood instead for the North East Somerset seat which covered most of the same area, but was defeated by the Conservative candidate Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Later career[]

Following his defeat at the 2010 general election, Norris worked for David Miliband in his unsuccessful bid for the Labour leadership.^[13] In May 2012, Norris was shortlisted to be the Labour Party candidate for the Bristol mayoral election, but did not win the selection.^[14] As of 2016 he was Head of Operations for the Russell Group of Universities.^[15] Norris was critical of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party's handling of antisemitism, stating in an op-ed for the Bristol Post, "today’s Labour leadership seems to have become highly uncomfortable in opposing racism when it is directed at Jewish people".^[16] Norris is an ambassador for the children's charity Kidscape.^[17][18] In 2004, Norris was appointed to the board of the Snowdon Trust, a charity that supports students with physical disabilities.^[13]

Mayor of the West of England[]

Candidacy[]

Norris was selected as the Labour Party candidate on 16 November 2020, defeating Bristol councillor Helen Godwin in a vote of local members by 1,611 votes to 1,558.^[19] During the election campaign, the leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer visited Bath to campaign with him. They were asked to leave a pub by its landlord, who opposed the use of lockdowns as part of the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[20]

During the election campaign, Norris said that incumbent mayor Tim Bowles was the "only metro mayor who doesn't have more powers than when he started", and that if elected he would seek more money and powers from central government.^[21] He said he would establish a "Green Recovery Fund" to create 23,000 jobs by investing in "home retrofitting, tree-planting, flood and drought defences, and renewable energy".^[22]

Mayoralty[]

Norris was elected as the mayor of the West of England in the 2021 West of England mayoral election, a role which had previously been held by the Conservative Tim Bowles.^[23] Upon taking office, he became entitled to the style of Mayor.^[24] He credited his victory to the leadership of Keir Starmer.^[23] He said he would support North Somerset and parts of Somerset joining the combined authority, and he would seek additional funds for them.^[25]

In the first public meeting of the combined authority, Norris vetoed a proposal supported by the leaders of the three constituent councils to spend £100,000 reviewing how the authority functions and makes decisions.^[26] At a meeting in July, Norris and the council leaders rejected most of a climate action plan that the authority had been developing since 2019 as insufficiently ambitious, and to begin developing a replacement.^[27][28] Also in July 2021, Norris launched new schemes to support the creative and food industries in the region.^[29][30]

Bibliography[]

• Violence Against Social Workers: The Implications for Practice, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1989 (with Carol Kedward). ISBN 978-1-85302-041-4

References[]

External links[]

• Dan Norris official site
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Dan Norris
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Dan Norris MP
• Voting record at the Public Whip