Brereton first stood for a seat at the age of 18 on Stoke-on-Trent City Council on 6 May 2010, where he was defeated in the East Valley ward by the Labour candidate Matt Wilcox. One year later, Brereton stood again for the City Council and successfully retained the Baddeley, Milton and Norton ward for the Conservative Party. Following the local election in May 2015, in which he was re-elected as a councillor, he became cabinet member for Regeneration, Heritage and Transport on the City Council as part of a Conservative/Independents ruling coalition. He combined his councillor duties with attending university and, subsequently, with employment as a Parliamentary Assistant to Conservative MP for Staffordshire MoorlandsKaren Bradley.
Member of Parliament
Brereton unsuccessfully contested Stoke-on-Trent Central in a by-election on 23 February 2017, finishing third. He attracted some negative publicity for a mailshot his campaign released which made false claims about the voting record of the two local Labour MPs and for a poster that misspelled Brexit. After the Government announced that there would be a General Election taking place in June 2017, the Conservative Campaign Headquarters told the local Conservative Association to choose Brereton from a list of one, after he was promoted by his boss, the Cabinet Minister Karen Bradley. This was at the expense of Joe Rich, who had added four per cent to the Conservative Party vote share when he stood in the constituency in 2015 and had hoped to stand again. Brereton went on to defeat the sitting Labour MP Rob Flello and take the seat on 9 June 2017, making him the first Conservative to win in the constituency in over 80 years. Aged 26, he was the youngest Conservative MP in the 2017 intake. Following his election as MP for Stoke South, Brereton continued with his role on the city council until June 2019 when he did not stand for re-election
Brereton is a supporter of Brexit, saying he is "optimistic about our future in leaving the EU". In February 2019 he labelled the behaviour of European Union officials as "threatening and aggressive". He voted against extending negotiations with the EU in March 2019, claiming that it was "disrespecting" his constituents. He was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Exiting the European Union between September 2019 and 31 January 2020.
Personal life
Brereton lives with his wife and son in Stoke-on-Trent, and in London.
