Alex Mayer

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Alex Mayer

| honorific-suffix = MP

| image =

| caption =

| constituency_MP2 = East of England

| predecessor2 = Richard Howitt

| successor2 = Catherine Rowett

| parliament2 = European

| term_start2 = 15 November 2016

| term_end2 = 1 July 2019{{cite web|title=Key dates ahead|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/elections-press-kit/0/key-dates-ahead|publisher=European Parliament|access-date=28 May 2019|date=20 May 2017}}{{cite web|title=Key dates ahead|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48365702|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation|website=BBC News Online|access-date=28 May 2019|date=22 May 2017}}

| constituency_MP = Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard

| parliament = United Kingdom

| predecessor = Constituency established

| termstart = 4 July 2024

| termend =

| majority = 667 (1.4%)

| birth_name = Alexandra Louise Mayer

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1981|06|02|df=y}}

| birth_place = High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England

| birthname =

| nationality = British

| party = Labour Party

| spouse =

| relations =

| children =

| alma_mater =

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| website = {{url|https://votealexmayer.co.uk/}}

}}

Alexandra Louise Mayer (born 2 June 1981) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard since 2024.{{Cite web |date=5 July 2024 |title=Bedfordshire election results see stalwart Selous ousted |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c25ldylwd77o |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}} She was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England region from 2016 to 2019.{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/185637/ALEX_MAYER_home.html|title=Alex MAYER|website=MEPs|publisher=European Parliament}}

Early life

Mayer was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and brought up in Crawley, West Sussex. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from Exeter University in 2001 and has a master's degree in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from the University of Leeds.

Politics

In the 2014 European Parliament election she stood in for the East of England region in second position on the Labour list,{{cite web|url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/elections-2014-european-election-candidates-for-the-eastern-region-1-6045799|title=Elections 2014: European election candidates for the Eastern region|website=Peterborough Today|date=8 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608031138/https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/elections-2014-european-election-candidates-for-the-eastern-region-1-6045799|archive-date=8 June 2019|url-status=dead}} which did not yield a seat, but took over from Richard Howitt following his resignation.{{cite news |url=http://labourlist.org/2016/09/senior-mep-richard-howitt-to-quit-brussels-for-financial-services-job/ |title=Senior MEP Richard Howitt to quit Brussels for financial services job |author=Conor Pope |newspaper=LabourList |date=5 September 2016 |access-date=8 November 2016}}{{cite news |url=http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/east_of_england_mep_bids_farewall_to_european_parliament_role_1_4751543 |title=East of England MEP bids farewall to European Parliament role |author=Sophie Day |newspaper=The Hunts Post |date=27 October 2016 |access-date=8 November 2016}}

Mayer is a member of the Labour Party's National Policy Forum, the GMB, UNISON and the Co-operative Party.

In the European Parliament she was Labour's spokesperson for the foreign affairs (16–18) and the economy (18–19) and a member of the US-EU Relations Delegation. She is the international co-ordinator for the Washington DC Statehood campaign.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/16964011.cruelty-free-international-handed-in-the-petition-at-the-un-in-new-york/|title=From Lougton to New York: Biggest ever animal related petition is handed to the UN|website=St Albans & Harpenden Review|date=7 October 2018 }}

A member of the Labour Animal Welfare Society, Alex is a long-standing animal welfare campaigner, she was awarded the Cruelty Free International Parliamentarian Award and took an 8 million signature petition to the United Nations in New York on the topic of animal free cosmetic testing.

Mayer has been a member of Amnesty International for over twenty years and worked on issues relating to the ongoing human rights abuses in Kashmir, as a member of the European Parliament Friends of Kashmir group.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/heres-how-bedford-voted-in-the-european-elections/|title=Here's how Bedford voted in the European Elections|first=Paul|last=Hutchinson|date=27 May 2019}}

In May 2024, Mayer was selected to be Labour's candidate for the new constituency of Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard at the 2024 general election.{{Cite web |title=Alex Mayer has been selected as Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard |url=https://www.laboureast.org.uk/news/2024/05/28/alex-mayer-has-been-selected-as-labours-parliamentary-candidate-for-dunstable-and-leighton-buzzard/ |access-date=29 May 2024 |website=Labour East |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=Duncan |first=Euan |date=28 May 2024 |title=Alex Mayer to stand for Labour in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency |url=https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/politics/alex-mayer-to-stand-for-labour-in-dunstable-and-leighton-buzzard-constituency-4645320 |website=Luton News}}

On 4 July 2024, Mayer won the Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard seat from the Conservatives by a margin of 667 votes (1.4%), becoming the area's first female MP. She is the first Labour MP for the area in over 50 years since Labour's Gwilym Roberts won the South Bedfordshire constituency in 1966.{{Cite web |title=Mr Gwilym Roberts (Hansard) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-gwilym-roberts/index.html |access-date=29 May 2024 |website=api.parliament.uk}}

In October 2024, Mayer urged the Government to change the process of Daylight Saving Time, by putting clocks one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time in winter and two hours ahead in summer, in what was described as a "fundamental shake-up of time" that would provide people with an extra hour of daylight for eleven months of the year; Mayer proposed calling the new timezone "Churchill Time" after Sir Winston Churchill, who introduced the same idea during World War Two.{{cite web |last1=Issimdar |first1=Mariam |title=MP urges longer daylight saving as clocks go back |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mznrv3jvmo |website=BBC News |access-date=27 November 2024 |date=27 October 2024}}