Alan Gemmell is the Labour MP for Central Ayrshire, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Gemmell received 18,091 votes (43.7%). The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Annie McIndoe, received 11,222 votes (27.1%), while the Conservative candidate, David Rocks, secured 6,147 votes (14.8%). Gemmell was elected with a majority of 6,869 votes.

The Central Ayrshire constituency is located in the south-west of Scotland. It was re-established in its current form in 2005. Central Ayrshire was held by Labour from 2005 until 2015, when it was gained by the SNP.

Gemmell’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Central Ayrshire was Philippa Whitford of the SNP. Whitford held the seat from 2015 to 2024.

Political Career

Gemmell currently serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Cabinet Office. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs. The role is widely regarded as the first step on the ministerial ladder. Although they cannot speak for the government in debates, a PPS is bound by collective responsibility and becomes part of the so-called “payroll vote”, expected to support the official line in all divisions. Gemmell was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Gemmell served as a PPS in the Home Office from September 2025 to March 2026. He stepped down from this role in order to take up a position on the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee – the committee responsible for examining the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and other associated bodies.

Gemmell served as a PPS in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (2024-2025).

In May 2026, Gemmell was among the group of Labour MPs who publicly called for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to resign or set out a clear timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

In a statement, Gemmell said: “Having campaigned weekly across Ayrshire since October it was clear the prime minister’s unpopularity would stop us from achieving a Labour victory in Holyrood. At door after door voters told us they disagreed with decisions that had been taken.

“Our country faces enormous challenges and we need a Labour government that can deliver the scale of change this requires. The message from last week’s elections is clear: the prime minister no longer has the trust or confidence of the public to lead this change.

He added: “I am deeply sorry for the people I campaigned with who would have been excellent MSPs. We need to start afresh in communities across the country to win back trust and deliver a radical agenda to improve working people’s lives.”

Gemmell is a patron of LGBT+ Labour – a socialist society formally affiliated with the Labour Party.

Gemmell delivered his maiden speech on 26 July 2024 during a debate on making Britain a clean energy superpower.

In it, he said: “I blame failed policies and failed politicians for this poverty and lack of opportunity. That is why I was proud to campaign for a Labour government led by my right honourable and learned friend the prime minister to deliver jobs and bring down bills with GB Energy, increase funding to our NHS and schools, and ensure that the lives of working people across the whole country improve.”

He added: “I come from an ordinary working-class family from my constituency. My mum progressed from working in a factory to representing people at mental health tribunals as a lay advocate.

“My dad lost his job in the ’80s and became a council binman – a job he was proud of.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Gemmell 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.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Gemmell 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

Gemmell 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): Gemmell 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 on 6 April 1978, Gemmell attended Irvine Royal Academy and the junior school of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where he studied piano and trombone. He also toured with the Scottish National Youth Orchestra.

He read law at the University of Glasgow.

Before entering parliament, Gemmell worked in the civil service. At the Home Office, he was private secretary to the permanent secretary from 2003 and 2005. He was Home Office director for economic migration from 2005 until 2006, and later served as a counter radicalisation advisor in the Cabinet Office.

Gemmel has also worked in Brazil, India, Israel and Mexico with the British Council and was director of the British Council in India from 2016 to 2018.

Gemmel was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to cultural relations in the area of Arts and Science.

He was trade commissioner for South Asia and British deputy high commissioner for Western India from 2020 to 2023.

Personal Life

Gemmell married Damien Lee Stirk, a ballet dancer and teacher, in 2015.

In 2024, PinkNews listed Gemmell among a number of out LGBTQ+ parliamentarians.

Trivia

In January 2025, Gemmell attended the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president in Washington DC.

He was reportedly invited by a Texan investor who was “considering investing” in his Central Ayrshire constituency.