Sarah Dyke | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of Parliament forGlastonbury and Somerton Somerton and Frome (2023–2024) | |
| Assumed office 20 July 2023 | |
| Preceded by | David Warburton |
| Majority | 6,611 (13.9%) |
| Member ofSomerset Council for Blackmoor Vale | |
| In office 9 May 2022 – 17 October 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Division established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1971 (age 53–54) |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Alma mater | Harper Adams University |
| Website | www |
Sarah Joanne Dyke (born 1971) is a BritishLiberal Democrat politician. She has beenMember of Parliament (MP) forGlastonbury and Somerton since 2024 and was previously MP forSomerton and Frome from 2023 to 2024.
Sarah Joanne Dyke[1] was born in 1971 and comes from aSomerset farming family that can be traced back more than 250 years to the local area.[2][3] She was privately educated atWarminster School and studied agricultural and business studies atHarper Adams University.[2]
Dyke represented Blackmoor Vale onSomerset Council from the2022 election, and was the council's lead member for environment and climate change, until October 2024.[4] She chaired the regeneration board for the council.[5][6]
Dyke was selected as the Liberal Democratprospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Somerton and Frome in May 2022.[7] On 17 June 2023,David Warburton, MP for Somerton and Frome since 2015, announced his intention toresign from Parliament following allegations of sexual harassment.[8] During her campaign it was reported that Dyke was a supporter ofExtinction Rebellion.[9]
Atthe July 2023 by-election, Dyke was elected as an MP with 54.6 per cent of the vote and a majority of 11,008, on aswing of 29.0 per cent from theConservatives to the Liberal Democrats.[10] On her election, she commented on the absence of her predecessor, saying: "Instead of an absent Conservative MP letting you down, you have an active Lib Dem MP lifting you up."[11] She was sworn in as an MP on 4 September following the parliamentary summer recess,[12] along withKeir Mather andSteve Tuckwell.[13] Mather, from theLabour Party, was elected forSelby and Ainsty, and Tuckwell, from the Conservative Party, was elected forUxbridge and South Ruislip in two by-elections held on the same day as Dyke's.
Following the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Somerton and Frome was abolished as a parliamentary constituency, to form two new constituencies:Glastonbury and Somerton andFrome and East Somerset, which were contested for the first time at the2024 general election.[11] Dyke was re-elected to Parliament to represent Glastonbury and Somerton, with 42.7 per cent of the vote and a majority of 6,611 over the second-placedConservative candidate. The BBC calculated that the changed boundaries made the new seat notionally Conservative, so categorised Dyke's victory as a Liberal Democrat gain from the Conservatives.[14][15]
At the time of her election Dyke owned sixty sheep, four dogs and a cat, and ran a second-hand goods business, Vintage Ghetto.[2]
Dyke is openly LGBT+.[16]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forSomerton and Frome 2023–2024 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forGlastonbury and Somerton 2024–present | Incumbent |
