Ellie Chowns

Chowns was born on 7 March 1975 in Chertsey. She is the daughter of Gillian and Stephen Chowns, and has a brother, Jonathan.

She studied geography, environmental studies and development studies at the University of Sussex, graduating with a bachelor of arts (BA) degree in 1997. She then undertook a one-year master of professional studies (MProf) degree in sustainable development at Middlesex University, graduating in 1998. She later undertook doctoral research in international development at the University of Birmingham. She completed her doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree in 2014, with a doctoral thesis titled, The political economy of community management: A study of factors influencing sustainability in Malawi's rural water supply sector.

Chowns is a specialist in international development, having worked for charities such as Voluntary Service Overseas, Christian Aid and Quaker Peace and Social Witness. She was lecturer at the Universities of Birmingham and Bath, and a research associate at Sheffield. She has also worked for Friends of the Earth.

Herefordshire Council

Chowns became involved in politics in 2015. In 2017, she was elected as a councillor on Herefordshire Council and became leader of the Green group. In the 2019 Herefordshire Council elections, Chowns was re-elected to the council with 78.6% of the vote. In 2023, while a councillor, she successfully proposed a motion requiring the council to consider the climate and environmental impact of all future decisions.

European Parliament

Chowns was elected as an MEP in the 2019 European elections, winning 10.66% of the vote share. In the same election, the Green Party won seven MEPs, up from three. In the Ninth European Parliament, she sat with the Greens-European Free Alliance and was a member of the International Trade Committee and the delegations to Cariforum and ASEAN. Chowns focused on climate action, biodiversity, sustainable trade, human rights and European cooperation, arguing that Europe had a "special responsibility" to lead on achieving zero carbon emissions and tackling global inequality.

She is an advocate of the re-accession of the United Kingdom to the European Union. On the tenth anniversary of the Brexit referendum, Chowns called for a roadmap for the UK to rejoin the EU, citing concerns over Brexit's economic impact, inequality and the need for closer European cooperation. In September 2026, Chowns described Brexit as a "monumental act of self-harm", arguing that its consequences had left the UK poorer, weaker and more isolated.

Whilst an MEP, Chowns was arrested on 14 October 2019 in Trafalgar Square defending the rights of Extinction Rebellion protesters to continue. She was released pending investigation, and was later one of the claimants to challenge the legality of the section 14 order under which she was arrested. On 6 November 2019, the High Court ruled this blanket use of section 14 by the Metropolitan Police was unlawful. Chowns declined to sue the police for unlawful arrest, but declared the ruling to be a "victory for the right to peaceful assembly and protest, two cornerstones of our democracy".

Chowns stood as the Green candidate for North Herefordshire, a safe seat for the Conservatives, in the 2017 general election, securing 5.5% of the vote. In the 2019 general election, she won 9.3% of the vote, the sixth-highest Green vote share in the country and the highest of any seat where there was no Unite to Remain alliance.

In the 2024 general election, Chowns was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for North Herefordshire with 21,736 votes (43.2%) and a majority of 5,894 over the second-placed Conservative candidate, Bill Wiggin. She overturned a significant Conservative majority and unseated the incumbent Wiggin with a swing of +34.4% as compared to the 2019 election. She is the Midlands' first Green MP. Alongside Siân Berry and the then Green co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, she was one of the first five Green MPs in UK history; the first, Caroline Lucas, retired from the Commons in 2024.

Chowns stepped down as both a county councillor and leader of her party on Herefordshire Council when taking up her Commons seat. On 18 July 2024, she made her maiden speech in the House of Commons during a debate on foreign affairs and defence, stressing the need to restore rivers to good health. Her stated priorities included economic renewal, housing, public services and restoring polluted rivers, particularly the River Wye.

Roles

On 4 September 2025, Chowns was elected by Green MPs to lead the Green Party in Westminster. Since 4 July 2024, she has served as the party's foreign affairs and defence spokesperson in the Commons. On 1 June 2026, she became spokesperson for constitutional affairs and HM Treasury matters. She was previously spokesperson for business and trade, education, housing and communities and local government.

She has served on the Environmental Audit Committee and the public bill committees for the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the Representation of the People Bill, which she argued did not go far enough to stop wealthy interests from distorting UK politics, and called for tighter donation rules and greater transparency. As of June 2026, Chowns was an officer of the APPGs on Water Pollution (chair), House of Lords Reform (vice-chair), Europe (co-vice chair), Fair Elections, Farming and Human Rights. She supported the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

Areas of focus

Since being elected, Chowns has secured adjournment debates on the Warm Homes Plan in November 2025 and embodied carbon in buildings in July 2026. She has also introduced four private member's bills: the Water (Agricultural Pollution) Bill, the Carbon Emissions from Buildings (Net Zero) Bill, the Building Regulations (Swift Bricks) Bill, and the Armed Conflict (Requirements) Bill, addressing agricultural water pollution, carbon emissions from new buildings, biodiversity measures in housing developments, and parliamentary approval for the deployment of UK armed forces.

River-friendly farming

Chowns has called for a Water Protection Zone for the River Wye catchment, presenting constituents' petitions to that effect in September 2024 and March 2026, though ministers have said only that the Environment Agency is considering the option. She has also linked local river pollution, which government figures attribute largely to agriculture, to a long-running nutrient neutrality "Lugg moratorium" on housebuilding in her constituency.

Climate change

Chowns argued on Question Time in November 2024 that the UK should achieve net zero through incentives and by making low-carbon choices easier for people. She wrote in Politics Home in June 2026 that achieving net zero would bring economic and energy security benefits, advocating for greater investment in renewable energy and climate action. She has also called on the Office for Budget Responsibility to place greater emphasis on meeting net zero targets. Chowns has been a supporter of the Climate and Nature Bill, and in July 2026, backed proposals to introduce maximum workplace temperatures. In September 2026, she opposed the proposed Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas developments, arguing that their climate costs outweighed their economic benefits, and advocating a transition from North Sea oil to clean energy.

Foreign affairs and defence

She secured a Westminster Hall debate on the UK's compliance with the Genocide Convention in June 2025, has repeatedly questioned ministers on the war in Gaza, and has called for a full arms embargo on Israel. In March 2026, Chowns urged the UK government to prevent energy companies from profiting from rising energy prices during the Iran war. She has also criticised the UK government's investment in nuclear weapons, arguing that billions of pounds would be better spent on other priorities.

Democratic reform

She has also campaigned for proportional representation, votes for 16-year-olds, and has advocated modernising the Commons by introducing electronic voting, reforming procedures and reducing the adversarial nature of Westminster, including by introducing a European Parliament-style hemicycle.

Social care

On social care, she has pressed for cross-party action on reform, saying that "we need social care to work much more like the NHS, so that whether you get cancer or dementia, you get the care you need regardless of ability to pay".

In 2025, Chowns criticised the UK government's proposed asylum reforms, describing them as "inhumane". She has also raised concerns in Parliament about inadequate public transport links in Herefordshire, after students were forced to leave college courses due to unreliable and costly services.

Green Party leadership bid

On 11 May 2025, incumbent co-leader Adrian Ramsay launched a joint leadership bid alongside Chowns for the 2025 party leadership election, promising to unite the party, win more seats and turn "Green ideas" into government policy. Their supporters included Caroline Lucas, Jenny Jones, Molly Scott Cato, Jonathon Porritt and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The results of the leadership were announced on 2 September 2025, with Chowns and Ramsay being defeated by Zack Polanski.

In 2025, Chowns received the "Rivers and Seas Prize" at Nature 2030's Political Purpose Awards for her work as founder of the Water Pollution APPG and for her advocacy for the River Wye. In March 2026, Politics Home included her in its list of Influential Women in Westminster. Earlier, in 2015, she received the University of Birmingham "Teaching Academy Award" for educational enhancement and innovation.

Chowns has two adult sons and is a member of Giving What We Can, a community of people who pledge to give at least 10% of their income to effective charities. In 2024, she established a constituency fund financed from her parliamentary salary, providing grants to charities and community organisations in North Herefordshire.

• Chowns, Ellie (October 2015). "Is Community Management an Efficient and Effective Model of Public Service Delivery? Lessons from the Rural Water Supply Sector in Malawi" (PDF). Public Administration and Development. 35 (4): 263, 276. doi:10.1002/pad.1737.