Norris served in government as the Parliamentary-Under Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Environment from 2009 to 2010, and an Assistant Whip from 2001 to 2003.

[1] Norris was educated at Chipping Sodbury School and the University of Sussex,[3] where he received a Master of Arts in Social Work in 1988.

[7] Norris first stood for parliament in the constituency of Northavon in 1987, losing against the Conservative incumbent, John Cope.

In 1992, he was the Labour candidate for Wansdyke in Somerset, coming in second place against the Conservative incumbent, Jack Aspinwall.

Following his defeat at the 2010 general election, Norris worked for David Miliband in his unsuccessful bid for the Labour leadership.

[29] He said he would establish a "Green Recovery Fund" to create 23,000 jobs by investing in "home retrofitting, tree-planting, flood and drought defences, and renewable energy".

The four local authorities’ monitoring officers, who give legal advice, stated the veto could arguably amount to maladministration.

[44] On 15 October 2021, the four council leaders did not attend a WECA meeting with the mayor, which meant over £50 million of spending decisions could not be made.

[45][46] Norris stated "I would agree that [my predecessor] gave into them, I am not prepared to do that ... I’m not really bothered about procedures or legal arguments, frankly.

[47][48] In November 2021, after taking new legal advice, Norris agreed not to claim veto powers on decisions involving North Somerset.

[51][52][53] In the same month, Norris signed WECA up to a charter committing to support staff diagnosed with terminal illness, and urged organisations across the West of England to do likewise.

[57] A somewhat similar Joint Spatial Plan was previously being developed by the area's unitary authorities in a four-year process, and included building three new "garden villages".

At the time, there was a proposal by the owners of Bristol's Ashton Gate Stadium to build 500 homes on the neighbouring green belt as part of a "sporting quarter" development.

[63][64] The mayor and the leader of South Gloucestershire council disputed the amount of new housing proposed in WECA's forthcoming SDS, publication of which was deferred.