Episode 4: Polly Billington

About our speaker

Polly Billington, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for East Thanet at the next election.

She worked as a reporter for the BBC for many years, before leaving to become a special advisor to Ed Miliband - she was the media director for his successful bid to lead the Labour party in 2010.

In 2016, she founded UK100, a network of local government leaders in the UK, who have committed to ambitious action on climate, clean energy and clean air. She was the CEO until 2022.

Polly was nominated for the podcast by Rachel Kyte, whose interview was episode 3 in our podcast series.

In this episode she talks about being practical, realistic and joined up in effecting change for communities in the UK. She also reflects on her career in the media and her new job working in politics.

Sustainable Matters … A podcast series full of solutions and optimism for a more sustainable world, brought to you by IEMA: transforming the world to sustainability

Polly Billington is a former BBC journalist who worked on the Today programme before becoming a special advisor to Ed Miliband. She was the media director for his successful bid in the 2010 Labour leadership election. Billington is the Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for East Thanet and previously was the candidate for Thurrock at the 2015 general election and a Labour Party official. She is a Strategic Adviser to UK100, and councillor for De Beauvoir ward in the London Borough of Hackney.