Holly Lynch was elected as the Member of Parliament for her hometown of Halifax in 2015 and won re-election in 2017 and 2019. She is married and has a son with whom she enjoys visits to Eureka, local parks and – of course – the magnificent Piece Hall. 

Before becoming an MP

Born in Halifax, Holly grew up in Northowram, attending Brighouse High School where she balenced her studies with her job at the local pharmacy. She then studied Politics and History at Lancaster University, before woring in Subway, a fast food outlet, in Halifax town centre. Prior to her election, she worked for a small local business involved in exporting Halifax goods around the world and Yorkshire and Humber MEP Linda McAvan. After the previous Labour MP for Halifax, Linda Riordan, stood down, Holly was selected by local Labour Party members to be their next candidate and subsequently won the election campaign that followed. 

In Parliament

Holly made her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 9 June 2015 and talked of her determination to protect services at Calderdale Royal Hospital. She has worked hard since then to achieve this goal and has consistently called for services to be protected at both Halifax and Huddersfield A&Es. She has also championed the cause of Fairtrade, founding the All Party Parliamentary Group on the issue and helping secure Halifax’s status as a Fairtrade Town, and has chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group for Integration which focuses on increasing community cohesion. 

To see more information about Holly’s work fighting for Halifax in Westminster, click here for Holly’s campaigns and here for Holly’s most recent activity in Parliament. You can also sign up for Holly’s regular e-news newsletter by following the link at the bottom of this page.

Protect the Protectors campaign

In 2018, Holly led the Protect the Protectors campaign to secure harsher sentences for people convicted of assaulting emergency service workers. In the House of Commons chamber, she spoke about the experience of her parents, both of whom were emergancy service workers who had faced violence whilst on the job. She also spoke about her experience shadowing a police constable from the West Yorkshire Police when he was involved in an altercation when attempting to make an arrest. Following this, she sponsored the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Bill, alongside colleague Chris Bryant, which became law in September 2018.

Frontbench roles

Holly was made an opposition whip in 2016 before being appointed to the Labour front bench in July 2017, taking on the role of Shadow Flooding, Fishing & Coastal Communities Minister within the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs team, but later stepped down in order to take maternity leave.

In April 2020 she was appointed as Labour’s Shadow Minister of State for Immigration within the Shadow Home Office Team. She took up the post of Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction and Courts within the same team in 2021 before becoming  the Shadow Minister for Security looking at national security and intelligence under the Home Office in 2022. 

Following the 2023 shadow frontbench reshuffle, Keir Starmer promoted Holly to Opposition Deputy Chief Whip, a crucial role in managing the parliamentary affairs of the Labour Party in Parliament.