She was a city councillor in Bristol from 2015 to 2024 (initially for Clifton East ward, and following the 2016 boundary changes for Clifton Down). She is also noted for her lead role in bringing about Bristol City Council's declaration of a climate emergency in 2018, which was the first in Europe.
Early life and education
Denyer was born in 1985 to John Denyer and Margaret Cooksley; the couple divorced ten years later.[5] Cooksley was a scientist, while John worked in the aerospace industry, for the Ministry of Defence, and for QinetiQ, a defence firm.[6][5]
Denyer attended a state secondary school in the Hampshire town of Fleet,[7] completing A-levels in maths, further maths, physics, and philosophy.[5] Alongside extra-curricular participation in debating and public speaking[7] and the Explorer Scouts,[8] she began political campaigning in sixth form by promoting fair trade and campaigning in opposition to the Iraq War.[9][5][10]
From 2005 to 2009, Denyer studied mechanical engineering at St Chad's College, Durham,[11][12] continuing her environmental activism as an environmental representative at her college.[13]
She went on to work in the wind energy sector, moving to Bristol and working for a Bristol-based renewable energy consultancy, GL Garrad Hassan,[14][15] from 2009 until shifting her career to politics.[16][17][5] According to an interview in Vogue, this shift came as Denyer realised that "actually, the technology needed to get to net zero is pretty much there. That's not the problem. The problem is those in power. [...] She realised she needed to get into politics and change the system".[5]
Political career
Early career
Denyer joined the Green Party in 2011.[18] From 2012 she developed an interest in ethical investment and specifically fossil-fuel divestment through participation in the Quakers and the UK Fossil Free campaign. She participated in bringing about British Quakers' divestment from fossil fuels.[19]
Carla Denyer with Fossil Free divestment campaign, December 2016
Following her work on the Quakers' divestment, Denyer became a leading figure in the campaign for the University of Bristol to divest from fossil fuels, first tabling a motion in her capacity as a city councillor sitting on one of the university's governance bodies in November 2015.[19][20] Despite initial defeats,[21] the campaign succeeded in March 2017.[22][23] Denyer has also been active since at least 2015 in the ongoing campaign calling on Avon Pension Fund to divest from fossil fuels.[24][25][19][26]
Bristol councillor
Denyer was first elected to Bristol City Council as a Green Party councillor for Clifton East in 2015.[27] After boundary changes, she was elected as councillor for Clifton Down in 2016.[28] She was re-elected as a councillor in 2021 with an increased majority, in the context of growing support for the Green Party in Bristol.[29][30] In June 2021, Denyer was appointed as the Green Party's housing and communities spokesperson,[31] and in July 2021, she took on the role of shadowing Bristol's Labour cabinet on climate and ecology, holding the position jointly with Lily Fitzgibbon.[32]
In November 2023, Denyer announced that she would not seek re-election as councillor in the 2024 Bristol City Council election in order to focus on her campaign for election as member of parliament for Bristol Central constituency.[33]
Activities
Denyer with fellow Green councillor Clive Stevens in 2016
In 2018, Denyer proposed a successful motion to bring about Bristol City Council's declaration of a climate emergency.[34] This was the first such declaration by a UK council, and one of the first in the world.[35][36][37] Denyer has been seen as a key figure in launching a movement of government climate-emergency declarations.[38][39] BBC news credited Denyer with the idea of first putting forward 'the idea of a local area declaring a climate emergency'.[40] Denyer's motion was described in The Independent as "the historic first motion" which by July 2019 had been "copied by more than 400 local authorities and parliament".[41]
As of 2019, Denyer remained critical of Bristol's progress towards achieving its goal,[42][13] and particularly of the planned expansion of Bristol Airport.[43] She criticised the UK government's lack of support for environmental policies, noting that the political will existed in local government.[44] In 2020, she welcomed Bristol's declaration of an ecological emergency due to loss of wildlife.[45]
Denyer also campaigned extensively on transport; work included trying to introduce congestion charging to Bristol[46][47] and seeking 'a major upgrade of Bristol's transport, with safe connected cycling routes, a joined up and efficient bus network and a levy on corporate parking to raise funds for more improvements'.[47][48] In June 2021, she criticised Bristol Airport for claiming to be on course to be carbon neutral without taking emissions from flights, travel to and from the airport, or car parking into account.[49] In 2020, she helped institute a Green Party policy to ban advertisements for polluting products such as SUVs and flights,[50] and pushed for a similar policy in advertising controlled by Bristol City Council.[51]
Her other campaigning has included improving conditions for people renting their homes,[52][53] and opposing council tax increases for poorer taxpayers[54][55] while seeking what Denyer has described as "more ambition from the mayor's office in tackling austerity" by calling for the city to raise the top band of council tax.[46]
European and UK Parliament candidacies
In May 2019, Denyer unsuccessfully stood as one of the Green candidates for South West England in the European Parliament Election.[56] The elections saw her refusing to share a platform with the UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin regarding a hustings planned to be held at the University of Bristol, arguing that "while the protection of free speech is important, we have to guard against the far-right taking advantage of it".[57]
In November 2019, she stood as the Green candidate for Bristol West in the 2019 UK general election.[58] The seat was seen as a target for the Green Party.[59] The Greens participated in the Unite to Remain campaign,[15][60] leading to discussion as to whether she or the standing Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire was the more convincing candidate for pro-EU voters.[61][62][17][63] Denyer argued that polls predicting that Debbonaire would receive 60% of the vote didn't take into account the Liberal Democrats standing down in favour of the Greens.[64] In the event, Denyer came second, with 24.9% of the vote to Debbonaire's 62.3%.[65]
On 16 August 2021, Denyer announced her joint candidacy for leader of the Green Party alongside former deputy leader Adrian Ramsay on a co-leadership platform.[68][69] They were both elected on 1 October 2021.[70] Denyer became the first openly bisexual leader of a major political party in England.[71]
In the 2024 general election, Denyer was elected as the Member of Parliament MP for Bristol Central with 24,539 votes (56.6%) and a majority of 10,407.[73] She defeated former Labour MP for Bristol West Thangam Debbonaire.[74] She was one of the first five Green MPs ever to serve in the UK: former leader Caroline Lucas retired after fourteen years as an MP, during which time she had been the only Green official in the Commons, with successful Green candidates Siân Berry, Ellie Chowns, and Denyer's co-leader Adrian Ramsay joining her as first-time MPs.[citation needed]
Denyer made her maiden speech on 18 July 2024 during a debate on Foreign Affairs and Defence;[75] she opened her maiden speech by stating her preferred pronouns, in what she believed to be a parliamentary first.[5]
Denyer was criticised in July 2024 for owning a gas boiler in her home, despite the Green Party’s strong support and lobbying for heat pumps. Denyer noted that she was in the process of installing heat pumps.[76]
In October 2024, Denyer was appointment to the Public Bill Committee scrutinising the proposed Renter's Rights Bill. [77]
Awards
In the 2013 Travelwest Sustainable Business Travel Awards, Denyer was involved in her employer's achievement of the Best Promotional Incentive Award for encouraging staff car-sharing.[14]
In 2019, Denyer received the UK Local Government Association's 2018–2019 Clarence Barrett Award for outstanding achievement "for her work on the Climate Emergency motion which has been carried forward by councils everywhere";[78][79] she also received a "special mention" in the Local Government Information Unit's Councillor Achievement Awards in the category "Environment and Sustainability Pioneer"[80][81][82] and was nominated for the Bristol Diversity Awards in the politician category.[83]
In 2020, Denyer was named in the sustainability category by the Women's Engineering Society as one of the UK's top fifty women in engineering, with the commendation focusing on her climate emergency motion,[84][85][86][87] and in Bristol Live's "Pink List" of the most influential LGBT+ people in Bristol.[88]
In 2024, the New Statesman named Denyer 50th in The Left Power List 2024, the magazine's "guide to the 50 most influential people in progressive politics".[89]
Elected (stood on a joint co-leadership ticket with Adrian Ramsay)
References
^"Carla Denyer". UK Parliament. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024. Carla Denyer is the Green Party MP for Bristol Central, and has been an MP continually since 4 July 2024.
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