Clive Betts was first elected to Parliament in Sheffield in 1992, being reelected as the Labour Party MP for Sheffield South East with a majority of 4,289 in 2019.
This area of Sheffield, formerly constituted as the Sheffield Attercliffe constituency, has been held by Labour ever since the Second World War and contains a large part of the city’s former industrial suburbs. It now houses the vast Meadowhall shopping centre. Sheffield South East is an ethnically diverse seat that spreads out of the city and includes a number of mining villages. A high two thirds of the local population supported Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum.
Born in 1950, Betts worked formerly as an economist for the Trade Union Congress before becoming an MP. His political interests include economic policy, local and regional government and housing. He was educated at Cambridge University.
Betts was elected to Sheffield City Council between 1976 and 1992, and became Leader of the Council in 1987.
Betts is currently the Chair of the Commmons Select Committee on Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities.
He served as a Government Whip between 1997 and 2001.
Betts supported Sir Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour leadership election, and backed Owen Smith in his 2016 challenge to Jeremy Corbyn.
Betts supports Sheffield Wednesday FC. According to the Register of Members Interests, he employs his partner, James Thomas, as a Senior Parliamentary Assistant.
Clive Betts is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Football; the Netherlands; Somaliland; Local Authority Pension Funds; and Pension Clawback. He is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Serbia; Electric Vehicles; and Hydrogen.
Email: clive.betts.mp@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.clivebetts.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/clivebettsmp
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clive-Betts/
