Alex Norris is the Labour and Co-operative MP for Nottingham North and Kimberley, having first been elected to parliament at the 2017 general election for the predecessor seat of Nottingham North.

In the 2024 general election, Norris received 16,480 votes, representing 47.1% of the vote share. The Reform UK candidate, Golam Kadiri, received 7,053 votes (20.1%), while the Conservative candidate, Caroline Henry, secured 6,787 votes (19.4%). Norris was duly re-elected with a majority of 9,427 votes.

The Nottingham North and Kimberley constituency is located in northern Nottinghamshire. It covers the northern city areas of Nottingham, including Bulwell, Basford and Bestwood, along with the town of Kimberley, which was previously in the Broxtowe constituency.

It is a new constituency created for the 2024 general election, formed primarily from the former Nottingham North seat and parts of the former Broxtowe seat. The predecessor Nottingham North constituency was a safe Labour seat.

Political Career

Norris currently serves as lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice. He was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Under Keir Starmer, Norris served as minister of state for border security and asylum in the Home Office from September 2025 to July 2026. He served as parliamentary under-secretary of state for building safety, fire and local growth from July 2024 to September 2025.

Prior to the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, Norris served as shadow minister for policing (September 2023 – July 2024), shadow minister for levelling up (December 2021 – September 2023) and shadow minister for health and social care (April 2020 – December 2021). Norris briefly served as an opposition whip from February to April 2020.

Previously, Norris served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to shadow secretary of state for health Jonathan Ashworth.

Norris was a member of the House of Commons home affairs committee (2018-19) and the procedure committee (2020).

Norris delivered his maiden speech on 27 June 2017 during a debate on education and local services.

In it, he said: “[Nottingham has] traditionally had some of the worst of Britain – on health outcomes, results at school and outcomes in the workplace. We should not shy away from that challenge. All our challenges lead back to one point, which is our poverty.

“Thirty-four years ago, in his maiden speech, my predecessor but one, Richard Ottaway, remarked on Nottingham North’s proud industrial history and listed off all the big workplaces in the constituency. Four years later, my predecessor, Graham Allen, in his maiden speech, remarked that half of those had closed.”

He added: “I will do everything I can, as a Labour and Co-operative Party member of parliament and trade unionist, to fill this gap. I shall seek to use all the intricacies of this place to highlight our issues.

“I shall seek to build support for the long-term projects we need to change our community, and I will work and work until we see things get better.”

Before entering parliament, Norris was elected as a Labour councillor on Nottingham City Council for the Basford ward in 2011. During his time on the council, he held the executive portfolio for adults and health and chaired the city’s health and wellbeing board.

Political Views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Norris 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.

Labour leadership 2020: Norris was one of 31 Labour MPs who nominated Lisa Nandy 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.

Nandy, the MP for Wigan, argued that the party needed a “bridge” to reconnect with traditional working-class voters in northern England. She finished third in the contest with 16.2% of the vote.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Norris supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore disagreed with a majority of his constituents, 63.8% of whom voted to Leave.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Norris 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

Norris 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): Norris 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

Sanctioned (Russia): In April 2022, Norris 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

Born Alexander James Jordan Norris in Altrincham on 4 February 1984, he attended the independent Manchester Grammar School. He studied at the University of Nottingham.  

Norris previously worked as an area organiser for the trade union UNISON.    

Personal Life

Norris married Emma Foody in 2017.

Foody was elected as the Labour MP for Cramlington and Killingworth in the 2024 general election. The couple live in Bulwell, within the Nottingham North and Kimberley constituency. They have a border collie called Boomer.

Trivia

Norris is a keen runner and supports Manchester City Football Club.  

His dogs were voted Westminster dog of the year in 2018.

At the time, Norris said: “I am delighted to have won Westminster Dog of the Year with my terrific double act of Boomer and Corona. They’ve had such a fantastic day, meeting all the other ‘paw-litical’ candidates and I was never in any doubt that they would wag their way to victory.

“I am very proud that they’ve has been part of an event that promotes responsible dog ownership.”