Oliver Coppard | |
|---|---|
 Coppard in 2024 | |
| Mayor of South Yorkshire | |
| Assumed office 9 May 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Dan Jarvis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Oliver James Coppard (1981-06-09)9 June 1981 (age 44) South Yorkshire, England |
| Political party | Labour Co-op |
| Alma mater | University of Leeds (BA) |
Oliver James Coppard (born 9 June 1981) is a BritishLabour and Co-operative politician serving asMayor of South Yorkshire since 2022.[1] He was re-elected in2024.[2]
Coppard attendedSilverdale School andHigh Storrs School.[3]
He was awarded abachelor's degree in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from theUniversity of Leeds.[4] During his tenure at Leeds, he interned in the office ofDick Gephardt, then theDemocratic Leader in theUS House of Representatives. Coppard later interned in the office ofMeg Munn when she wasMember of Parliament forSheffield Heeley.[5]
At the2004 Sheffield City Council election, Coppard was one of three Labour candidates who unsuccessfully contestedGraves Park.
Coppard volunteered for theObama campaign for the2012 US presidential election. He was director of theremain campaign inYorkshire and the Humber, andLincolnshire for the2016 European Union referendum.
Coppard stood inSheffield Hallam at the2015 general election, against thenDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg.[6] He failed to defeat Clegg but achieved a swing of over 16% from theLiberal Democrats to Labour. Coppard has stated that he chose not to contest the seat in2019 due toLabour antisemitism.[7]
In the2022 South Yorkshire mayoral election, Coppard was selected as the Labour candidate.[8][5] He won the election, getting a plurality of votes in the first round, at 43.1% and defeating theConservative candidate Clive Watkinson by a margin of 71.4% to 28.6% in the second round.[9][10][1]
On 12 March 2024, Coppard announced £2.2 million funding to provide a safe space to sleep for every child aged 0-5 in South Yorkshire.[11] Coppard told theYorkshire Post that he established the programme because he knew that 'one in nine babies that go home from hospital in Sheffield alone go home without a safe place to sleep' and they can 'end up sleeping in a bath or a box, a drawer, in a bouncy chair'.[12] The scheme is delivered by the UK charity Baby Basics, who had already established the need and the format for addressing it.[13]
On 22 March 2024, under Coppard's leadership theSouth Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority formally brought theSupertram under public control.[14] This move was welcomed by commentators, with Matthew Topham from Better Buses for South Yorkshire calling 'a day of celebration when our local transport will be run by and for the people it serves'[15] and a Sheffield Councillor called it a 'brave decision' that deserves 'all of our support' in a column for theSheffield Telegraph.'[16] Plans to bring the tram under SYMCA ownership had been set in motion by previous Mayor Dan Jarvis.
Coppard is a resident of Sheffield. He is Jewish.[7] Coppard is the Board Chair at theSheffield Hallam Students' Union.
