Last week, voters in West Reading and the surrounding villages elected Labour candidate Olivia Bailey as their new MP, a former aide to party leader and now PM Sir Kier Starmer.

Mrs Bailey was born in Reading, at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the daughter of Roy Bailey, a police officer and her mother, a secondary school teacher.

She lives with her partner councillor Finn McGoldrick (Labour, Norcot) and two young boys in Tilehurst.

In her professional life, she worked in policy and public opinion research, and held senior roles in a range of think tanks and research bodies.

Her biography states that her passion is 'putting the public at the heart of policy making.'

She had also served with Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader as a head of domestic policy in 2022.

Mrs Bailey had previously run as the candidate for the old Reading West constituency, but was beaten by Sir Alok Sharma, the sitting Conservative MP there since 2010.

Sir Alok won with 25,311 votes, a majority of 2,876 over Mrs Bailey's tally of 22,435 votes.

She was denied a rematch with Sir Alok who announced he would not be standing for a fifth time in September last year. 

Mrs Bailey announced that she would run in December last year. Shortly afterwards, she was selected as the candidate by Labour party members. 

At the general election on Thursday, July 4, she won 16,273 votes, a majority of 1,361 over Ross Mackinnon, the Conservative candidate and shadow leader of West Berkshire Council, who managed 14,912 votes.

She was announced as the winner just after 6am on Friday, July 5 at the general election count at Newbury College. 

Reacting to her victory, Mrs Bailey said:  “I am so delighted, proud and humbled and just so determined to live up to the trust that people have put in me." 

She visited Parliament on Monday, July 8.

In an X/Twitter post from Reading Station, she said: "Off for my first full day in Parliament!

"I’m excited to get to work and start delivering the change people in Reading West and Mid Berkshire voted for." 

Her stated priorities as an MP include lobbying for a new Royal Berkshire Hospital 'with the scanners and equipment it needs, an end to the 8am scramble for a GP appointment and more appointments with local dentists.' 

On crime and antisocial behaviour, Mrs Bailey has called for zero tolerance to anti-social behaviour, giving police the powers they need to crack down on repeat offenders.

She has also spoken out against sewage pollution in the rivers in the area, backing Labour's policy of severe and automatic fines on polluters.

Her father Roy is a Labour councillor for the Town Centre & The Parks ward of Bracknell Forest Council, and the executive member for children and young people.