1. Carla Suzanne Denyer was born on 24 September 1985 and is a British politician who has served as co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales alongside Adrian Ramsay since 2021 and as the Member of Parliament for Bristol Central since 2024.
32 Facts About Carla Denyer
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Carla Denyer was a city councillor in Bristol from 2015 to 2024.
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Carla Denyer is noted for her lead role in bringing about Bristol City Council's declaration of a climate emergency in 2018, which was the first in Europe.
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Carla Denyer attended Calthorpe Park Secondary School in the Hampshire town of Fleet.
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Carla Denyer completed A-levels in maths, further maths, physics, and philosophy at The Sixth Form College Farnborough.
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From 2005 to 2009, Carla Denyer studied mechanical engineering at St Chad's College, Durham, continuing her environmental activism as an environmental representative at her college.
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Carla Denyer went on to work in the wind energy sector, moving to Bristol and working for a Bristol-based renewable energy consultancy, GL Garrad Hassan, from 2009 until shifting her career to politics.
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Carla Denyer participated in bringing about British Quakers' divestment from fossil fuels.
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Carla Denyer has been active since at least 2015 in the ongoing campaign calling on Avon Pension Fund to divest from fossil fuels.
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Carla Denyer was first elected to Bristol City Council as a Green Party councillor for Clifton East in 2015.
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Carla Denyer was re-elected as a councillor in 2021 with an increased majority, in the context of growing support for the Green Party in Bristol.
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In June 2021, Carla Denyer was appointed as the Green Party's housing and communities spokesperson, and in July 2021, she took on the role of shadowing Bristol's Labour cabinet on climate and ecology, holding the position jointly with Lily Fitzgibbon.
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In November 2023, Carla Denyer announced that she would not seek re-election as councillor in the 2024 Bristol City Council election in order to focus on her campaign for election as member of parliament for Bristol Central constituency.
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In 2018, Carla Denyer proposed a successful motion to bring about Bristol City Council's declaration of a climate emergency.
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Carla Denyer has been seen as a key figure in launching a movement of government climate-emergency declarations.
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Carla Denyer's motion was described in The Independent as "the historic first motion" which by July 2019 had been "copied by more than 400 local authorities and parliament".
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Carla Denyer criticised the UK government's lack of support for environmental policies, noting that the political will existed in local government.
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Carla Denyer campaigned extensively on transport; work included trying to introduce congestion charging to Bristol and seeking 'a major upgrade of Bristol's transport, with safe connected cycling routes, a joined up and efficient bus network and a levy on corporate parking to raise funds for more improvements'.
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In May 2019, Carla Denyer unsuccessfully stood as one of the Green candidates for South West England in the European Parliament Election.
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In June 2022, Carla Denyer announced her intention to run for MP for Bristol West in the 2024 general election.
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In June 2023, Carla Denyer began her campaign to become MP for Bristol Central, the successor constituency to Bristol West created from the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies.
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On 16 August 2021, Carla Denyer announced her joint candidacy for leader of the Green Party alongside former deputy leader Adrian Ramsay on a co-leadership platform.
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Carla Denyer became the first openly bisexual leader of a major political party in England.
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Carla Denyer defeated former Labour MP for Bristol West Thangam Debbonaire.
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Carla Denyer was one of the first five Green MPs ever to serve in the UK: former leader Caroline Lucas retired after fourteen years as an MP, during which time she had been the only Green official in the Commons, with successful Green candidates Sian Berry, Ellie Chowns, and Denyer's co-leader Adrian Ramsay joining her as first-time MPs.
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Carla Denyer made her maiden speech on 18 July 2024 during a debate on Foreign Affairs and Defence; she opened her maiden speech by stating her preferred pronouns, in what she believed to be a parliamentary first.
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Carla Denyer was criticised in July 2024 for owning a gas boiler in her home, despite the Green Party's strong support and lobbying for heat pumps.
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Carla Denyer noted that she was in the process of installing heat pumps.
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In October 2024, Carla Denyer was appointment to the Public Bill Committee scrutinising the proposed Renter's Rights Bill.
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In 2020, Carla Denyer was named in the sustainability category by the Women's Engineering Society as one of the UK's top fifty women in engineering, with the commendation focusing on her climate emergency motion, and in Bristol Live's "Pink List" of the most influential LGBT+ people in Bristol.
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In December 2015, Carla Denyer stated that she is a nontheist Quaker.
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Carla Denyer captained the Durham University alumni team that won the Christmas 2024 University Challenge quiz.