Jim McMahon is the Labour and Co-operative MP for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, having first been elected for the predecessor seat of Oldham West and Royton in a by-election on 3 December 2015.

In the 2024 general election, McMahon won 13,232 votes, representing 34.3% of the vote. Independent candidate Zaffar Iqbal received 8,256 votes (21.4%), while the Reform UK candidate, David Silbiger, secured 6,848 votes (17.8%). McMahon was duly elected with a majority of 4,976.

The Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton constituency covers western parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester. It is considered a safe Labour seat, held by the party since its creation in 1997.

McMahon succeeded Michael Meacher as the MP for Oldham West and Royton. Meacher’s death triggered the 2015 by-election.

Political Career

McMahon currently serves as parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. He was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

McMahon is chair of the Co-operative Party, having assumed the role on 3 October 2020. The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom that works in a long-standing electoral alliance with the Labour Party.

McMahon served as minister of state for housing, communities and local government from July 2024 to September 2025. He stepped down from this role as part of Keir Starmer’s first major ministerial reshuffle as prime minister.

McMahon served in the shadow cabinet as shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs (November 2021 – September 2023) and shadow secretary of state for transport (April 2020 – November 2021).

McMahon resigned from the frontbench brief in September 2023, citing health concerns.

In his resignation letter, McMahon wrote: “I have been and remain a firm supporter of you and the project we have built to offer Britain an electable Labour government after 13 wasted years under the Conservatives.

“This has been a very difficult decision for me, but as we have discussed previously, I have faced a number of personal challenges in the last year coming back from a serious illness. The road to recovery has been testing and although I am better than I was, there is still some way to go.”

He added: “We remain firm friends and you retain my support in ensuring that Labour has the energy, the consistent strategy, and the practical policy solutions to improve the lives of people from all backgrounds and in all parts of our great country.”

McMahon returned to the opposition frontbench in November 2023 as shadow minister for English devolution and local government. He replaced two shadow ministers who resigned to support a Scottish National Party (SNP) amendment to the king’s speech calling for a Gaza ceasefire.

McMahon previously served on the opposition frontbench from October 2016 to April 2020 as shadow minister for local government and devolution.

McMahon was a member of the House of Commons housing, communities and local government committee (2016-2016).

McMahon has been a longstanding supporter of lowering the voting age to 16. In 2017, he introduced the Representation of the People (Young People’s Enfranchisement and Education) Bill to this effect.

Addressing the commons in November 2017, he stated: “We believe the best way to run a democracy is to extend the franchise and include people.”

In the end, the Representation of the People (Young People’s Enfranchisement) Bill was debated for a little less than an hour and a half, running out of time. Labour MP Jonathan Reynolds accused Conservative MPs of “making ridiculous points of order to try and filibuster”.

In April 2019, McMahon led a Westminster Hall debate on lowering the voting age. He argued that there is “no real age test when it comes to participation in our democratic and civic institutions. It should be about spirit, commitment and making the effort to be an active citizen taking part in our democracy.”

McMahon delivered his maiden speech on 19 January 2016 during a debate on the cost of public transport.

In it, he said: “Many people here will know Oldham as an industrial giant, and it was. It was the king of cotton. In its heyday, the town spun more than 17 million spindles, which was more than the whole of the United States and 80% of the total number in the UK.

“For too many people, the Oldham of yesterday was built on exploitation, with very little regard for quality of life or fairness. People came from countries right around the world to make a better life for themselves, but do you know what the truth is? People struggled. They struggled in desperate poverty, while a lot of the money left town.”

He added: “As I stand here today, I reflect on the remarkable story – I would say that, wouldn’t I? – of a young boy from Miles Platting in Manchester who is now standing here in the House of Commons. The street where I grew up as a child no longer exists, but the values of hard work and courage instilled in me by my parents remain.”

Before entering parliament, McMahon served as a Labour councillor on Oldham metropolitan borough council from 2003 to 2017, representing Failsworth East ward. He was leader of the council from 2011 to 2016 and served on the Greater Manchester combined authority with responsibility for transport. He was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to the community in Oldham.

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: McMahon 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.

Labour leadership 2020: McMahon was one of 82 Labour MPs who nominated Keir Starmer for the party’s leadership in early 2020. The election was triggered by the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn following the party’s defeat in the 2019 general election, which resulted in Labour’s fewest seats in the House of Commons since 1935.

Starmer’s 82 nominations were the highest of any candidate. The shadow Brexit secretary won a decisive victory in the first round with 56.2% of the vote, defeating Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy.

Labour leadership 2016: McMahon was one of 162 Labour MPs who nominated Owen Smith for the party’s leadership in July 2016. The election was triggered by a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn following the EU referendum, which led to a wave of shadow cabinet resignations and a vote of no confidence supported by 172 MPs. Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary, was ultimately defeated by Corbyn, who won with an increased mandate of 61.8% of the vote.

Factional identity and party tradition

Tribune group (2017): McMahon was listed among the supporters of the Tribune parliamentary group – a caucus generally described as representing the party’s “soft left”.

The Tribune group was initially formed in 1964 to support the newspaper of the same name. It served as a prominent forum for those parliamentarians situated on the left of the Labour Party – but it split over Tony Benn’s campaign for the deputy leadership in 1981. Benn’s supporters founded the Campaign group – which evolved into the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG). Today, the Bennite SCG is strongly associated with the Labour left tradition.

During the 1980s, the Tribune group emerged as a more natural home for those on Labour’s “soft left”.

In 2017, Efford officially re-launched the group with a new mission statement calling for “opportunity and aspiration” to be placed at the heart of the party’s programme. Efford said he had reformed the group to ensure that the centre-left of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) “have a space in which to put forward ideas and debate which has not been there under successive leaders”.

He added: “The view of Labour MPs at the moment tends to be that too much are just Blairites who want to stab Jeremy Corbyn in the back. We want to show that is not where we are, and that we want to develop our own ideas that represent the centre-left of the party.”

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: McMahon supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore disagreed with a majority of his constituents, 61.3% of whom voted to Leave.

Article 50: In February 2017, McMahon voted in favour of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The legislation empowered the prime minister to notify the Council of the European Union of the UK’s intention to withdraw, formally triggering the process set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. MPs supported the bill by 498 votes to 114 at second reading.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): McMahon 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

McMahon voted against 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).

Foreign policy and security

Sanctioned (Russia): In April 2022, McMahon was among the group of MPs placed on a sanctions list by the Russian government. The measure barred them from entering Russia and was presented by Moscow as a retaliatory response to the UK’s stance on the invasion of Ukraine.

Before Politics

James Ignatius O’Rourke McMahon was born in Miles Platting, Manchester on 7 July 1980. His father was a truck driver.

McMahon left school at 16 and worked as an apprentice technician at the University of Manchester, attending Oldham college concurrently.

He later worked as a town centre manager for Oldham council, focusing on regeneration and business development.

Personal Life

McMahon lives in Failsworth with his partner Charlene Duerden. They have two sons.

Trivia

McMahon, a staunch supporter of lowering the voting age to 16, was named as the Youth Voice Champion by the British Youth Council for this in 2017.