Sue Hayman

Early life and career

Born in Upper Bucklebury in Berkshire, she attended St Bartholomew's comprehensive school in Newbury before reading English at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology (now part of Anglia Ruskin University).

She has worked in social services, as a book editor, a communications consultant and as Campaigns and Communications Manager for Michael Foster, former Labour MP for Worcester. Through her previous work she is an Associate of The Consultation Institute, which champions best practice in public consultation.

Family

Hayman has two grown-up children. She and her husband Ross have lived in Ullock, near Workington (within the Borough of Allerdale but part of the Copeland parliamentary constituency) since 2011 when they moved to Cumbria from Worcestershire.

Parliamentary career

At her election in 2015, Hayman retained the Workington seat for the Labour Party with a majority of 4,686, increasing Labour's majority by 111 from 2010, and becoming the first female MP to represent a constituency in Cumbria.

In July 2015, she was appointed to the House of Commons' Justice Select Committee. In line with Parliamentary protocol, she resigned from the committee following her appointment to Labour's front bench in September 2015 as an Opposition Whip for the shadow Home Office and Women and Equalities teams.

In October 2016, following Jeremy Corbyn's re-election as Labour leader, Hayman was appointed as Shadow Minister for Flooding and Coastal Communities in the opposition's front-bench Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) team.

In February 2017, she was appointed to the position of Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs following the resignation of Rachael Maskell.

Hayman retained her seat in the June 2017 General Election, increasing Labour's vote share from 42% to 51%, but with her majority down by 2.8% on 2015..

Hayman is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Nuclear Energy, and vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Rural Business.

Previous elections

In the 2004 European Parliamentary election, Hayman was third on the list of Labour candidates for the West Midlands (European Parliament constituency) but was not elected.

In the 2005 General Election, Hayman unsuccessfully stood as Labour's candidate in the Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency.

In the 2010 General Election, Hayman unsuccessfully stood as Labour's candidate in Halesowen and Rowley Regis.

In 2013, Hayman was elected to Cumbria County Council for the Howgate division, a position she formally relinquished in September 2015 after her election to Parliament in the May.

In the Press

Since joining the Shadow Cabinet, Hayman has written articles for the New Statesman on environmental issues, including a call for the UK to rebuke US President Donald Trump for withdrawing from the Paris agreement on tackling climate change.

Her constituency work is reported regularly in the local media. In February 2016 she was praised for her successful campaign to save Workington magistrates court from closure.

During the 2005 General Election Hayman defended her short term rental of a home in the Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency, which supporters of other candidates in the constituency claimed gave a misleading impression.

In 2015, Hayman came under fire from Private Eye for alleged links between her use of parliamentary questions and her husbands work. Ross Hayman is a Regional Director for Copper Consultancy , and former National Grid head of media. Copper provides communications and stakeholder engagement across the energy, resources, transport, water and built environment sectors, and Ross appears on her Register of Interests as a "family member engaged in lobbying the public sector on behalf of a third party or client".

During the 2017 General Election a row erupted over whether Hayman breached election rules over mail sent to constituents. A complaint sent to the Serjeant of Arms at the House of Commons was to be forwarded on to the Commissioner for Standards.