Alison McGovern is the Labour MP for Birkenhead, having first been elected for the predecessor seat of Wirral South at the 2010 general election.  

In the 2024 general election, McGovern won 22,468 votes, representing 52.1% of the vote. The Green Party candidate, Jo Bird, received 8,670 votes (20.1%), while the Reform UK candidate, Tony Stanley, secured 6,142 votes (14.2%). McGovern was duly elected with a majority of 13,798 votes.

The Birkenhead constituency is located on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside. Following boundary changes, McGovern defeated sitting MP Mick Whitley for the Labour selection for this constituency in 2023. Birkenhead is considered a safe Labour seat.  

McGovern succeeded Ben Chapman as the MP for Wirral South in 2010. Chapman represented the seat from 1997 to 2010.

Political Career

McGovern currently serves as minister of state in the Department of Health and Social Care. She was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

McGovern served as minister of state in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from September 2025 to July 2026, and minister of state for employment from July 2024 to September 2025.

Prior to the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, McGovern was shadow minister for work and pensions (2021-2024), shadow minister for digital, culture, media and sport (2020-2021), shadow treasury minister (2015), shadow minister for children and families (2014-2015), and shadow minister for international development (2013-2014).

McGovern served as an opposition whip from January to October 2013 and was parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to former prime minister Gordon Brown following the 2010 general election.

In a statement at the time, Brown commented: “While I’ve been spending much of my time visiting constituency projects I’ve been down in London at least once a week for the past few weeks to hold meetings and deal with Westminster business.

“Last week I met with some of Labour’s new and hugely inspiring MPs. One of the new intake who has most impressed me is Alison McGovern and I’m delighted that she has agreed to be my PPS. She is a formidable advocate for the Wirral and her campaigning on apprenticeships shows what a local champion can achieve.”

McGovern was appointed as the chair of the Progress group in October 2015. Progress (later Progressive Britain) was founded in 1996 to support Tony Blair’s leadership of the Labour Party. It is generally associated with New Labour political thought and the party right.

In January 2016, McGovern resigned from a Labour policy review on child poverty and combating inequality after John McDonnell, the then shadow chancellor, suggested that Progress had orchestrated the resignations of junior shadow ministers Jonathan Reynolds, Stephen Doughty and Kevan Jones.

At the time, McGovern told BBC One’s Sunday Politics programme: “So I’m there waiting to meet him to talk about it and all the while he’d gone to the TV studio to call the organisation that I am chair of ‘hard-right Conservative’, of having a hard-right Conservative agenda. That’s not okay.”

She added: “We are all Labour members and we believe in having a Labour government – that’s what we are, nothing more nothing less.”

McDonnell had told BBC Radio Two’s Jeremy Vine programme: “We’ve had a few junior members resign today and of course that’s their right. But they do all come from a narrow right-wing clique within the Labour Party based around the organisation Progress.

“I don’t believe they have ever accepted Jeremy’s mandate.”

In the wake of McGovern’s resignation, a Labour spokesperson commented: “Alison McGovern was invited to a discussion on child poverty but the initiative has not been launched or confirmed. She is resigning from something that doesn’t exist.”

McGovern subsequently served as co-chair of the Labour Campaign for the Single Market in which capacity she sought to change the Labour leadership’s position on Brexit. In January 2018, shortly before standing down as an MP, McGovern accused the Labour leadership of failing to formulate a “common and coherent position”.

McGovern was a member of the House of Commons Treasury committee (2017-2020) and the international development committee (2010-2013).

McGovern delivered her maiden speech on 3 June 2010 during a debate on European affairs.

In it, she said: “In the coming months, I wonder whether some might attempt to rewrite the history of the recent Labour government, but I can report that in Wirral South we have achieved a great reduction in clinically unnecessary waiting times, and that in the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology we have a world-beating treatment centre for those with cancer.

“Along with our marvellous NHS staff and Ben Chapman’s hard endeavour in standing up for local health services, we also have Labour health secretaries to thank for that.”

She added: “For us Merseysiders, our culture and heritage is at the heart of who we are. According to Impacts 08, the report on Liverpool’s year as European capital of culture, we are more likely than others in the UK to go to a museum or gallery, and I like to think that that is not much of a surprise, given that my constituency boasts the treasures of the Lady Lever art gallery in the Victorian model village of Port Sunlight and a wealth of community organisations dedicated to involving people in music, dance and drama.”

Before entering parliament, McGovern served as a Labour councillor for Brunswick Park ward on Southwark London Borough Council from 2006 to 2010.  

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: McGovern 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: McGovern was one of 21 Labour MPs who nominated Jess Phillips 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.

Phillips, the MP for Birmingham Yardley, had been a prominent critic of Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party. She withdrew from the contest on 21 January 2020, suggesting that she could not “unite all parts of our movement”.

Labour leadership 2015: McGovern was one of 41 Labour MPs who nominated Liz Kendall for the party’s leadership in June 2015. The election followed the resignation of Ed Miliband after the party’s defeat in the 2015 general election. It was the first contest held under the “one member, one vote” system, which replaced the previous electoral college.

Kendall, the shadow minister for care and older people, was viewed as the “Blairite” candidate in the race. She secured 41 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), exceeding the 35 required to reach the final ballot. She ultimately finished fourth in the contest with 4.5% of the vote.

Corbyn loyalty list: In March 2016, McGovern was labelled as “hostile group” by the Corbyn leadership in a leaked list which categorised Labour MPs by their perceived loyalty. This label suggested the Corbyn leadership viewed McGovern as actively and openly antagonistic.

Labour leadership 2016: McGovern supported 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.

Labour leadership 2010: McGovern was one of 33 Labour MPs who nominated Andy Burnham for the party’s leadership in May 2010. The election followed the resignation of Gordon Brown, who stepped down as prime minister and Labour leader after the 2010 general election.

Burnham, the former health secretary, secured 33 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), the minimum required to reach the final ballot. He ultimately finished fourth in the contest with 10.4% of the vote.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: McGovern supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore agreed with a majority of her constituents, 53.5% of whom voted to Remain.

Article 50: In February 2017, McGovern 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.

People’s vote support (2019): McGovern signed a January 2019 statement by Labour MPs calling for a “people’s vote” or second referendum. The statement, signed by 71 Labour MPs, read: “Defeat of the Tory [Brexit] deal in a public vote would give us all a chance to campaign for the anti-austerity policies and a Labour government that deals with the true causes of the Brexit vote, and a reformed Europe that works for all people.”

Remain pledge: During the 2019 general election campaign, McGovern was one of 193 Labour candidates to sign the anti-Brexit “Remain pledge”, drawn up by the campaign group Remain Labour.

It stated: “Labour is committed to a confirmatory referendum, to give you the final say on Brexit. If elected as your Labour MP, I pledge to campaign to Remain in the EU.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): McGovern 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

McGovern 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): McGovern 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.

Same-sex marriage (2013): In February 2013, McGovern voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at its second reading. The landmark piece of legislation, which received its second reading by 400 votes to 175, legalised marriage for same-sex couples in England and Wales.

Foreign policy and security

Trident renewal (2016): McGovern voted in favour of a government motion calling for the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent system in July 2016. The motion, which was passed by 472 votes to 117, committed the UK to constructing a new fleet of submarines to carry the nation’s nuclear weapons. Labour was split over the issue with 140 of its 230 MPs going against leader Jeremy Corbyn and backing the motion.

Syria airstrikes (2015): McGovern voted in favour of a government motion to extend UK airstrikes against Isis from Iraq into Syria in December 2015. The motion, which was passed by 397 votes to 223 after a 10-hour debate in the House of Commons, authorised the RAF to conduct strikes against Isis targets in Syria.

Syria airstrikes (2013): McGovern voted against the government’s motion on the principle of military intervention in Syria in August 2013. The government motion was defeated by 285 votes to 272, a move which effectively ruled out UK participation in any US-led military strikes.

Before Politics

Alison McGovern was born in Clatterbridge, Merseyside on 30 December 1980. Her father was a British Rail telecoms engineer and her mother a nurse.

She attended Brookhurst primary school and Wirral grammar school for girls, where she was head girl. She studied philosophy (BA) at university college London (UCL).

After university, she worked as a researcher in the house of commons, then in communications for Network Rail’s development projects, before working for the Art Fund and Creativity, Culture and Education.

Personal Life

McGovern married Ashwin Kumar, an economics consultant, in 2008. They have one daughter.

In a Grazia article, published September 2020, McGovern wrote about her “body-hating demons”.

She wrote: “I am not ashamed of having experienced depression throughout my life – to be honest I think that’s pretty normal.

“What I am embarrassed to admit is the self-disgust of my body that has plagued me since primary school. If ever I lack fluidity in speaking, or concentration fades, it is because – in that moment – the demons are winning.”

Trivia

McGovern is the granddaughter of Peter McGovern, an English songwriter and activist.

In her 2010 maiden speech, McGovern said: “I, myself, am the granddaughter of local songwriter and folk singer Pete McGovern, and I grew up spending many hours in the Philharmonic hall in Liverpool, wrapped in its peerless acoustics.”

In November 2018, McGovern was reprimanded for playing football in the chamber of the House of Commons alongside fellow Women’s Parliamentary Football teammates, Stephanie Peacock, Tracey Crouch, Louise Haigh and Hannah Bardell. It came after Bardell posted a video on social media of herself playing keepie uppie on the floor of the commons.

Bardell posted to Twitter (now X): “The women’s parliamentary football team should have played their first match tonight.

“Myself [Alison McGovern, Tracey Crouch, Louise Haigh and Stephanie Peacock] were all set but votes stopped us alas! Instead we had a kickabout and a photo in the chamber!”

John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons, responded in a statement.

He told MPs: “It has been brought to my attention that some football skills were displayed in the chamber yesterday evening after the House rose.

“I am informed that the doorkeepers on duty told the members concerned that the chamber was not the place for this activity, however, those doorkeepers were advised that permission had been given.

“Let me assure the House that that permission certainly did not come from me.”