Claire Hazelgrove is the Labour MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Hazelgrove received 22,905 votes (45.5%). The Conservative candidate, Jack Lopresti, received 12,905 votes (25.6%), while the Reform UK candidate, Stephen Burge, secured 6,819 votes (13.5%). Hazelgrove was elected with a majority of 10,000 votes.

The Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency is located in South Gloucestershire, South West England. The seat, created in 2010, was held continuously by the Conservative Party until the Labour gain in 2024.

Hazelgrove’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke was Jack Lopresti of the Conservative Party. Lopresti held the seat from 2010 to 2024.

Political Career

Hazelgrove served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Cabinet Office from September 2025 to July 2026. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs.

Hazelgrove left government as part of the July 2026 reshuffle conducted by Andy Burnham upon his appointment as prime minister.

Hazelgrove previously served as a PPS in the Treasury (2025).

In May 2026, Hazelgrove was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed a joint statement insisting it was “no time for a leadership contest.” The letter was an intervention in the political crisis engulfing Keir Starmer’s premiership, after Labour suffered heavy losses in the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru. It was organised as a counterweight to a mounting rebellion that had seen high-profile figures, including some ministers, call for Starmer’s resignation.

The statement read: “Last week we had a devastatingly tough set of election results. It shows we have a hard job ahead to win back trust from the electorate.

“That job needs to start today – with all of us working together to deliver the change the country needs.

“We must focus on that. This is no time for a leadership contest.”

In the wake of the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, Hazelgrove was appointed by 10 Downing Street as a “mission champion” for the South West – a role intended to cut across departmental boundaries and support Labour’s programme for “national renewal”. These “missions”, first set out in 2023 and subsequently given less prominence, included boosting economic growth, reducing NHS waiting times, tackling crime, establishing a publicly owned clean energy company and expanding educational opportunity.

Hazelgrove has sat as a member of the foreign affairs select committee (2024).

Hazelgrove delivered her maiden speech on 15 October 2024 during a debate on the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill.

In it, she said: “I see this role, which I am honoured to hold for a time, as being a vital jigsaw piece, joining together with others to make life fairer for people across our community and our country…

“I believe that how we do things in politics matters almost as much as what we do. I appreciate my part – my responsibility – in doing politics differently and having better conversations.”

She added: “It was the last Labour government’s response to the Make Poverty History campaign that showed me that politics at its best can be an unparalleled force for good, and that significant change can happen when people power meets political power…

“I got into politics, like many, to make a difference, but I was driven every day by the simple belief that someone’s background should not determine their life chances and life choices.”

Before entering parliament, Hazelgrove worked as director of engagement at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (2017-2020) and later as community and political engagement director at the consultancy TPXimpact.

During the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, Hazelgrove was deputy director of UK field operations for the Britain Stronger In Europe campaign.

Hazelgrove stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Skipton and Ripon in the 2010 general election.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Hazelgrove was one of 175 Labour MPs who nominated Bridget Phillipson 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.

Phillipson, the serving education secretary, was widely viewed as the candidate favoured by Downing Street and the party leadership. She secured 175 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 80 required to reach the final ballot. She was ultimately defeated by Lucy Powell.

Factional identity and party tradition

Labour Growth Group: Hazelgrove has been listed as a member of the Labour Growth Group (LGG) – a vocal faction of backbenchers committed to ensuring economic growth remains the central mission of the government. The group, largely composed of MPs from the 2024 intake, positions itself as the voice of “the builders, not the blockers” and provides organised support for ministers taking on politically difficult decisions in the name of economic expansion.

In an open letter addressed to Keir Starmer, issued upon the group’s founding in July 2024, LGG MPs said it was imperative that “the government grasps the nettle and goes for growth”.

They added: “This absolutely has to start with the sweeping planning reforms to get Britain building again. Under the Tories, planning permissions for new homes hit record lows and housebuilding cratered. Indeed, not once in their 14 years in power did the Conservatives meet their housing targets.

“Energy and transport projects were promised but not built. That’s why we are writing to you to make clear that it’s in the national interest to start delivering on our manifesto promise, including 1.5 million more homes across this parliament at the earliest opportunity.

“A failure to act will not be forgiven by the public. Britain has a housing crisis and a huge infrastructure deficit – without strong and immediate action, this will only worsen.”

SERA: Hazelgrove 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”.

Labour Movement for Europe: Hazelgrove was endorsed by the Labour Movement for Europe (LME) in the 2024 general election. Founded in 1981, LME is a pro-European socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. It campaigns for a close relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The organisation refers to itself as the “home of the pro-Europeans in the Labour and trade union movement”.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Hazelgrove 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

Hazelgrove 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

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Hazelgrove 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.

Before Politics

Born Claire Ruth Hazelgrove on 16 July 1988, she attended Campion School in Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire.

In her 2024 maiden speech, Hazelgrove said: “I come from a family of teachers, NHS workers and RAF service members, and their sense of public service runs deep in me.”

She studied politics at the University of York and later obtained a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Bath.

Hazelgrove also worked on Barack Obama’s 2012 US presidential election campaign.

Personal Life

Hazelgrove lives in her Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency.

Trivia

When selected to contest the Skipton and Ripon seat in the 2010 general election, Hazelgrove was reported to be the second-youngest parliamentary candidate in Labour Party history at the time.