Dr Allison Gardner is the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Gardner received 14,221 votes (34.7%). The Conservative candidate, Jack Brereton, received 13,594 votes (33.2%), while the Reform UK candidate, Michael Baily, secured 8,851 votes (21.6%). Gardner was elected with a majority of 627.

The Stoke-on-Trent South constituency is located in Staffordshire, West Midlands. The seat was created in 1950. Historically a safe Labour seat, it became marginal in the 2010s and was won by the Conservative Party in 2017 and 2019.

Gardner’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Stoke-on-Trent South was Jack Brereton of the Conservative Party. Brereton held the seat from 2017 to 2024.

Political Career

Gardner is a member of the House of Commons science, innovation and technology select committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for examining the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and associated its public bodies.

In May 2026, Gardner 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.”

Gardner is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for artificial intelligence (chair), ceramics, digital identity (chair), quantum technologies, urinary tract infections (co-chair) and wheelchair users.

Gardner has described the introduction of digital identification as a “no brainer”.

She told Politico in October 2025: ​​“It absolutely will make people’s lives easier, more secure [and] give them more control over their data. We need to explain it better to people, so that they understand that this is for them, and it’s not being done to them.”

Gardner delivered her maiden speech on 2 September 2024 during a debate on technology in public services.

In it, she said: “I pledge to all the people in my constituency that I carry them in my heart and mind at all times. I am acutely aware of the trust they have placed in me. I will get some things wrong, no doubt, but know this: I will always do my best. I will work hard, I will always hold the vision of a better life for them and I will always fight for the place that is my home.”

She added: “Technology in the public services offers huge potential, but there are also risks if it is not properly developed and deployed, as we have seen with biased risk assessment models for child welfare and benefit fraud models.

“In my previous career with the NHS, I saw the great potential that diagnostic technologies can offer, particularly in radiology, which I saw in action when I visited the radiology department at the Royal Stoke, for example.

“Such technologies can be transformative, streamlining pathways and saving hours of work, but they do not and should not replace human oversight. Proper governance and regulation are required, and always with a ‘safety first’ principle. It must be transparent and accountable. I hope we get it right; in fact, we must.”

Before entering parliament, Gardner served as a Labour councillor on Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council from 2016 to 2022.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Gardner was one of 117 Labour MPs who nominated Lucy Powell 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.

Powell, the former leader of the House of Commons, was seen as a candidate representing the party’s “soft left”; she was supported by leading soft left figures including Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham. She secured 117 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), above the 80 required, and went on to win the election – defeating Bridget Phillipson with 54.3% of the vote.

Factional identity and party tradition

Living Standards Coalition: Gardner 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.”

Get Britain Working Group: Gardner was initially listed as a signatory of a letter organised by the Get Britain Working Group of Labour MPs – a caucus supportive of the Starmer leadership’s position on welfare. The group argues for a “new social contract built on employment and opportunity”, focusing on the rising number of people out of the workforce due to long-term sickness.

In an open letter, issued upon the group’s founding in March 2025, the group expressed its support for the government’s welfare measures set out in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.

However, Gardner went on to distance herself from the letter, saying her name “shouldn’t have been added to the letter”.

In a post to social media, Gardner said: “When I was asked to sign, I made it clear that the wording and focus would have needed to change to better reflect the needs of those with severe disabilities and chronic illnesses who simply can’t work.

“I felt strongly that the struggles many face with work capability assessments, personal independence payment (PIP) applications, refusals, appeals and tribunals needed to be highlighted, and vocalised this. This was erroneously taken as consent to include my name on the letter.”

SERA: Gardner has been listed as a member of the Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA) – a socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. Founded in 1973, SERA is the party’s official environmental campaign group. The organisation campaigns on a wide range of issues, including renewable energy, biodiversity, air quality and the transition to a green economy. SERA describes its member MPs as “champions for the environment”.

Labour Movement for Europe: Gardner was endorsed by the Labour Movement for Europe (LME) in the 2024 general election. Founded in 1981, LME is a pro-European socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. It campaigns for a close relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The organisation refers to itself as the “home of the pro-Europeans in the Labour and trade union movement”.

Electoral reform

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Gardner was one of over 70 Labour MPs who signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, calling on the government to establish a “national commission on electoral reform”. Tabled by Alex Sobel as chair of the fair elections APPG, the amendment aimed to force a rethink of the first past the post voting system.

At the time, Sobel described FPTP as “one of the biggest examples of a broken status quo in UK politics.” He invited colleagues to join this “common sense call to take a fresh look at how parliament is elected in modern Britain.”

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Gardner voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): In the end, Gardner was one of the over 120 Labour MPs to sign the reasoned amendment to the government’s flagship welfare bill which aimed to reject the proposed legislation.

The amendment, in the name of senior Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, objected to the fact that the bill had not been subject to a “formal consultation with disabled people” and that “250,000 people will be pushed into poverty” as a result of it, according to a government impact assessment.

The motion also called on the government to wait for the publication of the review into the Personal Independence Payment (Pip), helmed by minister Sir Stephen Timms, and the independent review, conducted by Sir Charlie Mayfield, into how the employment of disabled people could be boosted.

Assisted dying

Gardner 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).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Gardner 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.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Gardner was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

Gardner was born in Singapore, where her father was stationed in the Navy, and raised by her Irish mother. Gardner’s mother worked as a factory manager.

Gardner studied biochemistry at the University of Kent and later earned a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) from the University of Leeds. She completed a PhD in bioinformatics at the University of Manchester in 2016.

Gardner was head of biology at English International College from 1998 to 2021.

In 2018, she co-founded the organisation Women Leading in AI.

She was a senior scientific research fellow at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence from 2022 to 2024.

Personal Life

Gardner referred to her partner, Jim, in her 2024 maiden speech. She has two daughters, Chrissie and Lucy.

Trivia

Gardner taught science to Josh Fenton-Glynn, who was also elected as a Labour MP in 2024.

Fenton-Glynn told the Yorkshire Post in 2024: “Mrs Gardner was one of my most fun teachers.

“I don’t think either of us imagined that years later we’d both be part of a new intake of fantastic Labour MPs.”

Gardner told the House magazine in 2024: “He still calls me ‘Miss’ just out of sheer devilment.”