Nic Dakin

Sir Nicholas Dakin (born 10 July 1955) is a British Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Scunthorpe from 2010 to 2019 and again from 2024 to present. He is currently Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (Government Whip) since 2024. He was the Shadow Minister for Schools from 2015 to 2016, Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons in 2015, and an opposition whip from 2011 to 2015 and 2016 to 2019.

Early life
Dakin grew up at 22 Main Street in Cossington, where he went to Cossington C of E Primary School. His parents were Roy Dakin and Elsie Lee. His mother was, originally, a nurse. In the early 1970s, his mother trained as a teacher at Leicester College of Education at Scraptoft, now part of De Montfort University. With his mother's elder sister Edith, his mother appeared as Florrie and Ada on Radio Leicester. His uncle was Jack Lee. Both Nic and his mother took part in productions by the Sileby Methodist Players. His mother taught from 1972 to 1980 at St Peter's and St Paul's Primary School at Syston, and part time from 1980, working with special needs and remedial, teaching embroidery for her last six years, retiring in July 1988. His mother worked with the WI.

He went to secondary school there, before studying at the University of Hull and then King's College London, completing his undergraduate degree and then his PGCE respectively. He had previously trained as an accountant.

He taught English in Gävle, in eastern Sweden, and then at John Leggott College in Scunthorpe, where he became principal.

While teaching at John Leggott College, he was also a local councillor for Kingsway with Lincoln Gardens and then leader of North Lincolnshire Council from 1997 to 2003. He was also the deputy chair of Yorkshire Forward from 2005 to 2007.

Parliamentary career
He was selected in October 2009 to represent the Scunthorpe constituency and won the seat in May 2010 with a majority of 2,549. Subsequently, he won in 2015 and 2017. In 2017 he won with a 52% share of the vote.

Dakin has previously served on the Education Select Committee and was a member of the House of Common's Procedure Committee and the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art.

In October 2011 Dakin was appointed an Opposition Whip under Ed Miliband. He was then given the additional role of Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons in May 2015. After Jeremy Corbyn won the leadership of the Labour Party in September 2015, Dakin was made Shadow Minister for Schools. Dakin resigned his Shadow Cabinet position in June 2016 citing loss of confidence in the Labour leader. He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election.

In October 2016 Dakin re-joined the Opposition Whips' office.

Dakin was the chair of several All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) including: Steel and Metal Related Industries, Pancreatic Cancer, Education, Skills and Employment, and Bioethanol until his election defeat.

He lost his seat to former Conservative North Lincolnshire Council Councillor Holly Mumby-Croft in the 2019 United Kingdom general election.

Dakin was knighted in the 2020 Birthday Honours for political service. In December 2022 he was chosen to stand again as the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for Scunthorpe in the 2024 general election, which he won against Conservative MP Holly Mumby-Croft, regaining his seat as MP and assuming office on the 4th July.

Personal life
He married Audrey Balsom in 1979 in Leicester; his wife was a midwife, and a representative of the National Childbirth Trust, and the Royal College of Midwives. Dakin has two daughters and a son.