Cllr Sara Hyde appointed to House of Lords

It has been announced that Cllr Sara Hyde has been appointed by the King as a new member of the House of Lords. A Cally councillor since 2018, Sara will be an active “working peer” fully participating in the Lords legislative and scrutiny functions. She will therefore step down as an Islington councillor at the May 2026 elections.

Sara has always had a very busy public life in addition to her roles in the Council. She is a prison reform activist and criminal justice policy expert after a first career in theatre. She has had 10 years of first-hand practical experience supporting the rehabilitation and resettlement of women who have served sentences, both in prison and in the community. She received a doctorate in criminology from Nottingham University in 2025.

She is currently Islington Council’s Executive member for health and social care and is current Chair and former Vice-Chair of the Fabian Society. Sara started volunteering in Cally in 2003 as a youth worker and helping run a homeless night shelter. She lived on the Delhi Outram and then Bemerton Estate almost 15 years. She was a member of All Saints Church for 17 years and served as a governor at Blessed Sacrament primary school.

Sara says: “I am surprised and delighted to have been asked to serve in this way. The love and support of the community in Cally shaped me as a young adult and changed the course of my life. Although my new role is no longer as a representative for Cally, I will be working every day to make sure our country works for people in live in Cally and areas like it. I’m looking forward to listening, learning and doing my best for our communities in this new job.”

Una O’Halloran, Leader of the Council and Cally ward Councillor adds: “Sara’s appointment to the Lords is a great credit to her and all that’s she’s done in Islington and the national political scene. I am so grateful to her for 8 years as a Cally Councillor where she has been such an active representative for our neighbourhood. We shall miss her good sense, empathy and sheer hard work in our community”.

The Prime Minister has nominated two dozen peers. The list contains many people who are eminent in business, public and academic life. The list is here. The latest working peers will help to reduce the in-built Tory majority in the Lords which has resisted measures passed by the House of Commons including legislation that was in Labour’s manifesto such as the Employment Bill which gives new protection to people in the increasingly casualised labour market.