# Oliver Ryan (politician)

Oliver David Ryan (born April 1995) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament for Burnley since 2024.
Previously, from 2014 to 2023, he was a councillor on Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, where he was Executive Member for Finance and Economic Growth and earlier Executive Member for Children's Social Care.
He served as a Labour and Co-operative MP from the 2024 general election until February 2025, when he was suspended from the party for bringing the party into disrepute.

## Early life

Oliver David Ryan was born in April 1995 in Manchester, Greater Manchester. He has three siblings and grew up in Droylsden, Tameside. Ryan graduated from the University of Manchester with a BA (Hons) in Modern History with Politics in 2016 before obtaining a postgraduate Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) in Law from the University of Law.
He has spoken of the influence his grandparents had on his upbringing; his grandfather David Boyle was a GMB Union official and his grandmother was an NHS nurse.

## Political career

Ryan joined the Labour Party in 2010, aged 15. He was elected as the Labour Party councillor for Audenshaw ward in the 2014 Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council election at the age of 19. He retained his seat in the 2018 and 2022 elections. Ryan stood down ahead of the 2023 election. Ryan was then elected as the Labour and Co-operative MP for Burnley in the 2024 general election with a majority of 3,420 votes, defeating the incumbent Antony Higginbotham of the Conservative Party.
Ryan has said that his main priority in politics is to break the "generational cycle of worklessness" among some Burnley families.
In February 2025, Ryan apologised for comments made in a WhatsApp chat group, after Andrew Gwynne was sacked as a minister and was suspended from the Labour Party, over messages he sent to the same group. Ryan was subsequently also suspended from the Labour parliamentary party.

## Electoral performance
### House of Commons

General election 2024: Burnley :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour Co-op | Oliver Ryan | 12,598 | 31.7 | –8.5 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Gordon Birtwistle | 9,178 | 23.1 | +15.4 |
| | Conservative | Antony Higginbotham | 8,058 | 20.3 | –20.2 |
| | Reform UK | Nathan McCollum | 7,755 | 19.5 | +12.4 |
| | Green | Jack Launer | 1,518 | 3.8 | +2.0 |
| | Independent | Rayyan Fiass | 292 | 0.7 | +0.7 |
| | Independent | Mitchell Cryer | 169 | 0.4 | +0.4 |
| | Independent | David Roper | 151 | 0.4 | +0.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,420 | 8.6 | N/A |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 39,719 | 53 | –9.4 |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +5.8 | |

### Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

2022 Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council election: Audenshaw :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Oliver Ryan | 1,520 | 52.1 | +5.2 |
| | Conservative | Danny Mather | 1,178 | 40.4 | –4.0 |
| | Green | Luke Robinson | 221 | 7.6 | –1.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 342 | 11.7 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,930 | 31.1 | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | +4.6 | |
2018 Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council election: Audenshaw :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Oliver Ryan | 1,581 | 55.3 | +10.0 |
| | Conservative | Danny Mather | 922 | 32.2 | +5.7 |
| | UKIP | Peter Harris | 195 | 6.8 | –15.6 |
| | Green | Georgia Blakeney | 161 | 5.6 | +0.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 2,865 | 30 | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | | |
2014 Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council election: Audenshaw :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Oliver Ryan | 1,284 | 42.32 | −9.36 |
| | UKIP | David Turner | 1,162 | 38.30 | N/A |
| | Conservative | Colin White | 429 | 14.14 | −18.42 |
| | Green | Nancy Jaegar | 159 | 5.24 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 122 | 4.02 | −15.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 3,034 | 33 | −29 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | | |

## Personal life

Ryan is openly gay.