Emily Darlington

MP for Milton Keynes Central

Labour

Emily Darlington is the Labour Party MP for Milton Keynes Central, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Darlington received 20,209 votes (42.3%). The Conservative candidate, Johnny Luk, won 12,918 votes (27.1%), while the Reform UK candidate polled 6,245 votes (13.1%). Darlington was duly elected with a majority of 7,291.

Milton Keynes Central is a new constituency in Buckinghamshire created for the 2024 election, formed from parts of the former Milton Keynes South and Milton Keynes North seats. Based on 2019 results applied to the new boundaries, the seat was notionally Conservative.

Political Career

Darlington is a member of the House of Commons science, innovation and technology select committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for examining the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and associated its public bodies.

In an article for the Observer, published in March 2025, Darlington expressed reservations about the government’s plan to cut aid spending from 0.7% to 0.3% of gross national income (GNI) by 2027 to fund greater spending on defence. “National defence and international development are two sides of the same coin”, she wrote. “Our long-term security requires us to invest in both.”

In a November 2025 article for the Independent, Darlington argued that it was “a mistake to erode the soft power our development assistance delivers” by rowing back on foreign aid commitments.

She called for a “clear, phased roadmap to return to 0.7% of GNI is urgently needed from the chancellor. Not an overnight leap, but a transparent and responsible trajectory that allows us to plan effectively.”

In May 2025, Darlington led a Westminster Hall debate on Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She pointed to the work of Gavi and the Global Fund since 2000, saying it had “led to more than 1 billion children being vaccinated, and more than 18 million avoidable deaths prevented in low-income countries”.

Darlington delivered an appeal for continued funding and urged the government to show “partnership and leadership”.

Darlington stated: “I say to the government and the minister, who cares a lot about this issue, that, despite the short-term cuts… we must not use the fact that the replenishment comes at a time when our budget is at its lowest not at least to match what we have pledged in the past.”

In November 2025, Darlington was one of 34 cross-party MPs and peers who signed a letter to Ofcom demanding an investigation into the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The letter, led by Joani Reid, chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on antisemitism, called on the regulator to determine whether the platform was in breach of its legal duties under the Online Safety Act following a reported surge in antisemitic content and calls for violence against Jews on X.

In June 2025, Darlington was one of 16 Labour MPs to sign a letter to the foreign secretary, David Lammy, accusing the government of failing to protect the rights of LGBT+ citizens in the British Overseas Territories. The group argued that the absence of legal protections in jurisdictions such as the Turks and Caicos, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Montserrat constituted a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

According to a PoliticsHome report, the letter described the government’s “inaction on these injustices is not only a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights but, more importantly, a betrayal of the values Britain has long championed on the world stage.”

It added: “By failing to prevent differential treatment of LGBT+ persons in these jurisdictions, which naturally includes British citizens, the UK has allowed a two-tier system of British LGBT+ rights to emerge, in which the promise of equality and dignity extends only to some, not all, of its citizens and territories.”

Darlington is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for aid match (chair), Canada, homelessness, loan change and taxpayer fairness and self-driving vehicles.

Darlington delivered her maiden speech on 24 July 2024 in a debate on education and opportunity.

In it, Darlington referred to her “passion for international development”.

She added: “I am only the second Emily ever to be elected to this House and, like the first, my right honourable friend the member for Islington South and Finsbury [Emily Thornberry], I will speak my mind.

“I end my speech with another Emily, Emily Davison, who was never elected but did find herself in a closet in this House. We will be judged by the British people for our deeds, not our words.”

Before entering parliament, Darlington served as a Labour councillor on Milton Keynes City Council from 2018 to 2024. She served as deputy leader of the council briefly in 2024.

Darlington stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Milton Keynes North in the 2015 general election.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Darlington was one of 117 Labour MPs who nominated Lucy Powell for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Powell, the former leader of the House of Commons, was seen as a candidate representing the party’s “soft left”; she was supported by leading soft left figures including Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham. She secured 117 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), above the 80 required, and went on to win the election – defeating Bridget Phillipson with 54.3% of the vote.

Factional identity and party tradition

Living Standards Coalition: Darlington is a member of the Living Standards Coalition. Established in July 2025, the group’s stated aim was to develop and promote policy ideas that directly reduce everyday costs for households, particularly in areas such as food, energy, housing and childcare. In an open letter published upon its founding, addressed to Keir Starmer, the MPs wrote: “Our constituents will ask one question at the next election: did this Labour government make me better off?”

They added: “To raise living standards, we support government interventions that will help to increase incomes and lower costs.”

SERA: Darlington has been listed as a member of the Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA) – a socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. Founded in 1973, SERA is the party’s official environmental campaign group. The organisation campaigns on a wide range of issues, including renewable energy, biodiversity, air quality and the transition to a green economy. SERA describes its member MPs as “champions for the environment”.

Electoral reform

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Darlington was one of over 70 Labour MPs who signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, calling on the government to establish a “national commission on electoral reform”. Tabled by Alex Sobel as chair of the fair elections APPG, the amendment aimed to force a rethink of the first past the post voting system.

At the time, Sobel described FPTP as “one of the biggest examples of a broken status quo in UK politics.” He invited colleagues to join this “common sense call to take a fresh look at how parliament is elected in modern Britain.”

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Darlington voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Darlington voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

Assisted dying

Darlington voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Labour For Trans Rights: Darlington attended a rally organised by Labour for Trans Rights, a pressure group within the Labour party, during the party’s annual conference in September 2025. The event was described as a “Trans Solidarity Rally” and was intended to affirm the place of transgender people and their allies within the Labour movement.

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Darlington voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Darlington was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

Born Emily Catrin Darlington in London, she emigrated to Canada with her father as a child, returning to the UK around 2000.

She studied political science at Concordia University, Canada between 1993 and 1996.

Darlington worked for the late former chancellor Alistair Darling as a special adviser at the Treasury from June 2007 to March 2008. Previously, she was a special adviser to the Department for Trade and Industry from 2004 to 2007.

Darlington co-founded a strategic communications consultancy called Aequitas, stepping down in 2013.

Darlington has also worked in international development and served as a volunteer and board member for Tusinde, a Kenyan charity focused on poverty alleviation.