Katie White (politician)

Katie Jayne White is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Leeds North West since 2024.

Early life and education
White was born and grew up in Adel. She attended Leeds Girls' High School, leaving in 1999, before studying at the University of Glasgow where she graduated in 2003 with a degree in politics.

Career before Parliament
After graduating White did an internship in Washington DC where she first became interested in the issue of climate change. She went on to work at Friends of the Earth, during her time there she co-led the campaign for the Climate Change Act 2008.

In 2009 White aided the UK government to prepare for United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, and went on to work at the newly created Department for Energy and Climate Change. From October 2012 to April 2014 she was European campaigns director of One.org, and she then became an independent campaigns director. She worked for WWF as Director for Campaigns and Advocacy from September 2019 to April 2024, and in 2019 she joined private school operator Nord Anglia Education, leading their charitable foundation.

White is a trustee of the Mindfulness Initiative, which works with politicians to introduce the practice of mindfulness into policy-making.

Parliamentary career
Following a hustings in Leeds North West in November 2023, White was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the next general election; this was later called to take place on 4 July 2024. She won the seat with 46% of the vote and a majority of 11,896 over the second-placed Conservative candidate. There were a total of seven candidates, and a turnout of 70%.

Although Alex Sobel had previously held Leeds North West for Labour, boundary changes following the 2023 boundary changes meant that the notional 2019 result for the current seat was Conservative, so the result was described as a "Labour gain from Conservative". White is the first female MP to be elected to the Leeds North West constituency.

Awards
White's campaigning work led to her being appointed OBE in the 2013 Birthday Honours. She was described in the official citation as "lately Head of International and UK Engagement, Department of Energy and Climate Change", and the award was "For services to tackling Climate Change Engagement in the UK and overseas".

Personal life
White is married to Sam White and has two children.