Pollard unsuccessfully contested the South West Devon constituency in 2010 and the Plymouth Sutton and Devonport constituency in 2015, before winning the latter seat in 2017 from the Conservative incumbent Oliver Colvile on a swing of 7.2%. Pollard is the first Plymouth MP to have been born in the city since the Plymouth-born Michael Foot represented Plymouth Devonport from 1945 to 1955. In his maiden parliamentary speech, Pollard called for more frigates to be built for the Royal Navy. He campaigned to stop the sale of HMS Ocean to Brazil and for the retention of HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark both based in his Plymouth constituency. He also called for a new base for the Royal Marines after their move from their historic home at Stonehouse Barracks in Plymouth. Pollard sat on the Transport Select Committee until his appointment as a shadow minister. He made a proposal to extend the M5 motorway to Plymouth. He presented his first private member's bill in June 2019, seeking funds to recycle the thirteen retired nuclear submarines which are stored in his Plymouth constituency. The Nuclear Submarine Recycling Bill passed its first reading but did not proceed further. In July 2017, he was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Labour's shadow environment secretary, Sue Hayman. Hayman cited reasons for appointing him including his advocacy for Plymouth's fishing interests and his advocacy for Plymouth University academic Martin Attrill's proposal for Plymouth Sound to become the UK's first national marine park. Pollard convinced his party to adopt the establishment of national marine parks as policy. He was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Flooding and Coastal Communities on 30 July 2018, a part of the shadow environment team led by Hayman. Pollard led the campaign to prevent the early release of serial abuser Vanessa George who abused babies and toddlers at the Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth. He supported proposed changes to the law to "require the Parole Board to take into account any failure by a prisoner serving a sentence for unlawful killing or for taking or making an indecent image of a child to disclose information about the victim", as had been the case for George. In 2017 he proposed a statue to mark the centenary of the election of his predecessor Nancy Astor, as the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons. During the 2019 general election, Pollard's constituency office was vandalised with homophobic slurs. He was re-elected, with former Conservative MP and Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe having stood against him. He was promoted to shadow environment secretary after Hayman lost her seat in 2019. As shadow environment secretary, he argued for amendments to the 2020 Fisheries Bill to require fish from the UK's quota to land in UK ports and to give more quota access to smaller-scale fishers. In the 2020 Labour Party leadership election and deputy leadership election, he nominated Keir Starmer and Rosena Allin-Khan and endorsed Starmer and Angela Rayner. He was described by the i newspaper as a "rising star" who could be re-appointed as shadow environment secretary or made shadow transport secretary if Starmer became leader of the Labour Party. Pollard remained in his post as shadow environment secretary's in Keir Starmer's Shadow Cabinet.
