Alison Taylor is the Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Taylor won 19,561 votes, representing 47.1% of the vote. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Gavin Newlands, received 13,228 votes (31.9%), while the Reform UK candidate, Andrew Scott, secured 3,228 votes (7.8%). Taylor was duly elected with a majority of 6,333.

The Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituency was represented by Gavin Newlands of the SN from 2015 to 2024, and before that by the Labour Party from its creation in 2005 to 2015.

Political Career

Taylor serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Scotland Office (since September 2025). 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.

In May 2026, Taylor 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.”

Taylor has sat as a member of the House of Commons environmental audit committee (2024-2025).

Taylor delivered her maiden speech 28 November 2024, during a debate on the international status of Taiwan.

In it, she said: “With the Scottish constitutional question having been determined in 2014, there is now a real opportunity to foster political stability, create economic growth and reset international trading relations.”

She added: “My constituents badly need the economic growth that this Government have made their priority. Already in my surgeries I have spoken to many people who are living in unsuitable housing or temporary accommodation or, worse, are homeless.

“As Nye Bevan said: ‘A house, a modern house, is a most complex economic production. Every single industry is a contributor.’

“What better way is there of stimulating the economy, across many sectors, than to build modern homes?”

Taylor previously stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Paisley and Renfrewshire North in both the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

Political Views

Factional identity and party tradition

Living Standards Coalition: Taylor is a member of the Living Standards Coalition. Established in July 2025, the group’s stated aim was to develop and promote policy ideas that directly reduce everyday costs for households, particularly in areas such as food, energy, housing and childcare. In an open letter published upon its founding, addressed to Keir Starmer, the MPs wrote: “Our constituents will ask one question at the next election: did this Labour government make me better off?”

They added: “To raise living standards, we support government interventions that will help to increase incomes and lower costs.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Taylor 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.

Social values and conscience issues

Taylor voted against 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).

Before Politics

Alison Suzanne Watt Taylor studied land economics at the University of West of Scotland.

Taylor spent 30 years as a chartered surveyor.

Taylor’s immediate career before entering frontline politics centred on roles in public affairs and advocacy. She was a senior consultant at Avison Young from 2023 to 2024.

Personal Life

Taylor lives in her Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituency.

Trivia

Taylor was appointed as a PPS in September 2025.