Alex Barros-Curtis is the Labour Party MP for Cardiff West, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Barros-Curtis won 16,442 votes, representing 36.7% of the vote. The Plaid Cymru candidate, Kiera Marshall, received 9,423 votes (21.1%), while the Conservative candidate, James Hamblin, secured 6,835 votes (15.3%). Alex Barros-Curtis was duly elected with a majority of 7,019.

The Cardiff West constituency is located in Cardiff, Wales. It is considered a safe Labour seat, having been held by the party continuously since 1987.

Barros-Curtis’ immediate predecessor was Kevin Brennan, who represented the seat from 2001 to 2024.

Political Career

Barros-Curtis served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Attorney General’s Office from February 2025 to July 2026. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs.

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

Barros-Curtis serves as chair of the Welsh parliamentary Labour Party.

Barros-Curtis is a member of the House of Commons administration committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for overseeing the internal running of the House and the services provided to its members and their staff. Its primary role is to ensure that the facilities and administrative support on the parliamentary estate are effective, efficient, and meet the needs of a modern legislature.

Barros-Curtis is also a member of the House of Commons modernisation committee (since September 2024). The modernisation committee is a cross-party committee of MPs that considers reforms to House of Commons procedures, standards, and working practices.

In May 2026, Barros-Curtis 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.”

Barros-Curtis sat on the justice committee from 2024 to 2025.

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

Barros-Curtis delivered his maiden speech on 25 July 2024 in a debate on the code of conduct and modernisation committee.

In it, he said: “Cardiff West… regularly punches above its weight when it comes to sport. It is home to Glamorgan cricket, Sophia gardens, the athletics stadium at Cardiff international sports stadium and Cardiff City stadium, the home of Cardiff City football club and the Welsh national team. Cardiff West also houses Riverside, Pontcanna, Fairwater and Pentrebane, Pentyrch, Radyr and Morganstown, Gwaelod-y-Garth, Ely and Caerau, to name but a few.

He added: “As a proud Welshman and a proud gay man, I am excited to play my part in the government’s programme of national renewal. In so doing, I will endeavour to represent Cardiff West to the very best of my abilities.”

Barros-Curtis’ selection as the Labour candidate for Cardiff West in 2024, shortly after the general election was called, generated some controversy among some local party members due to his perceived lack of connection to the area. His selection came after an “expedited decision” was made “by a panel comprised of Welsh Labour’s Welsh Executive Committee and representatives from the local Labour parties.”

Political views

Factional identity and party tradition

Labour Growth Group: Barros-Curtis 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.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Barros-Curtis 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

Barros-Curtis 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): Barros-Curtis 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.

Foreign policy and security

IPAC: Barros-Curtis is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) – an international, cross-party network of legislators from democratic countries focused on relations with the People’s Republic of China. The alliance, established on 4 June 2020, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, was formed to unite “lawmakers worldwide, promoting democracy and addressing threats to the rules-based and human rights systems posed by the rise of China.

Before Politics

Born Alexandre Samuel Barros-Curtis in 1986 in North Wales, his mother was a teacher and his father was a police officer. He attended Gronant Primary School and Prestatyn High School.  

Barros-Curtis studied law at the London School of Economics

Before entering parliament, Barros-Curtis served as the Labour Party’s executive director of legal affairs from 2020. In this role, he provided “general legal advice and support on a wide range of issues to the leadership of the Labour Party” and assessed “the Labour Party’s compliance with legal, statutory and regulatory requirements.”

A 2023 Jewish Chronicle report said Barros-Curtis was “at the centre of high-profile decisions to recommend the suspension of Labour members and councillors over recent weeks – including over complaints about antisemitism that had previously not been acted upon”.

Barros-Curtis previously worked as a senior parliamentary assistant to Andy Burnham in 2016.

Barros-Curtis was Keir Starmer’s head of legal, finance and compliance for his 2020 leadership election campaign, serving in this same role for Owen Smith during the 2016 Labour leadership contest.

Personal Life

Barros-Curtis is openly gay and married.

Trivia

Barros-Curtis’ selection as Labour candidate for Cardiff West reportedly caused friction with Mark Drakeford, the member of the Senedd (MS) for the overlapping Cardiff West constituency and former first minister of Wales.

Drakeford is said to have told Barros-Curtis to find a separate office space.

Barros-Curtis is reportedly friends with Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.