Sarah Murphy (born 20 October 1986) is a Welsh Labour politician. She was elected as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for the Bridgend constituency at the 2021 Senedd election with a majority of 4,064.
Murphy is the only woman to have won a seat previously held by a man during this election, replacing former First Minister Carwyn Jones, who decided not to stand for re-election.
Early life
Sarah Murphy was born in East Glamorgan General Hospital in Church Village in 1986, and grew up near Pontypridd with her family. She attended Cardinal Newman R.C. Secondary School and Coleg Morgannwg, before studying English Literature at Reading University from 2005 to 2008.
Professional career
After graduating, Murphy moved to Seoul, South Korea to teach English. She then returned to Cardiff as the Head of Events for Welsh Labour between 2009 and 2012, and then worked in London for a global property development company.
In 2016, she graduated from the School of Journalism, Media & Communication at Cardiff University with an MA (Distinction) in Digital Media & Society. She was awarded a scholarship from Cardiff University and a grant from the Leathersellers’ Company Charitable Fund to carry out her studies.
In 2017, as the Research Analyst for Lee Waters AM, Murphy developed and implemented the first open-source, online crowdsourcing platform for a Welsh Assembly Member. Following the 2017 general election, she was appointed as the Senior Communications Manager to Anna McMorrin MP, and the then Senior Advisor to the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales.
From 2019, Murphy focused on social welfare and big data research, primarily for the Data Justice Lab at Cardiff University. She researches UK and international government's use of big data and algorithmic design for public services – with a focus on identifying potential data harms and discrimination against children and families. Her most recent research project investigates data-driven workplace surveillance.
Prior to being elected, she was the Chair of Sustainable Wales, a charity based in Porthcawl that supports community-based sustainable development. In 2020, she produced the webinar series "Circular Economy: A Design for Life" attended by leading experts from across Wales and the UK. Her most recent research contributed towards the findings and recommendations in the white paper: “The Datafied Workplace and Trade Unions in the UK” published by Cardiff University, Data Justice Lab and the European Research Council.
In March 2020, Murphy founded the Bridgend Coronavirus Support Group which had approximately 12,000 members and has raised money for Bridgend Foodbank and Splice Child and Family in Pyle.
She has written for the Welsh political blog Hiraeth about digital poverty and equal access to the internet.
Parliamentary career
On 7 May 2021, Murphy was elected as Member of Senedd for Bridgend.
Murphy is a member of the Reform Bill Committee, Equality and Social Justice Committee and the Health and Social Care Committee. Through her committee work, Murphy has worked on inquiries into Debt and the Pandemic, HGV Driver Shortages, Bovine TB, and Minding the Future: the childcare barriers facing working parents. Murphy is also the Welsh Labour representative for the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly.
Mental Health Awareness
In May 2022, Murphy made a speech in the Senedd Chamber about her own experience with an eating disorder aged 14, during which, Murphy called for improved mental health services for young people and the establishment of an Eating Disorder Unit in Wales.
Murphy was invited to work with eating disorder charity, Beat to re-establish and Chair the Cross Party Group on Eating Disorders that was previously chaired by Bethan Sayed. Currently, the Cross Party Group has the support of members from the Welsh Conservatives, Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru. She is currently elected Chair of the group.
In September 2022, Murphy spoke on a panel at the Give Back Yoga Symposium, on the work of holistic medicine to treat eating disorders. Murphy spoke alongside Professor Susan Broderick of Georgetown, Dr. John Kelly of Harvard and James Marzolf PhD, Senior Director at the Whole Health Institute.
Murphy and Huw Irranca-Davies have worked with Bridgend County-wide mental health and wellbeing charities, organisations and groups to co-produce the Bridgend Mental Health Pathway directory website to direct people to support groups and services across the community.