Andrew Cooper is the Labour Party MP for Mid Cheshire, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Cooper won 18,457 votes, representing 44.5% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Charles Fifield, received 9,530 votes (23.0%). The Reform UK candidate, Emma Guy, secured 7,967 votes (19.2%). Cooper was duly elected with a majority of 8,927.

The Mid Cheshire constituency is located in North West England. It was created ahead of the 2024 general election, from the former Congleton, Eddisbury and Weaver Vale constituencies. Based on 2019 results applied to the new boundaries, the seat was notionally Conservative before the 2024 election.

Political Career

Cooper is a member of the House of Commons housing, communities and local government select committee (since October 2025) – the committee responsible for scrutinising the policy, spending, and administration of the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government and its associated public bodies.

In May 2026, Cooper publicly called for Keir Starmer, the prime minister, to step down/set out a timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

In a statement at the time, Cooper said: “Stability in government matters enormously, particularly after years of political turbulence.

“That is why I believe it is now important for the prime minister to set out a clear and considered timetable for his departure, alongside an orderly transition to new leadership capable of renewing public confidence and uniting the country against those on the far right and far left who offer only division and simplistic answers to complex challenges.”

In March 2026, Cooper appeared to express reservations about the government’s plan to restrict jury trials. Speaking during the second reading of the Courts and Tribunals Bill, Cooper argued that the proposal “to try by judge alone eliminates all community involvement for that class of defendant, treating them differently from those facing charges of both lesser and greater severity.”

Cooper wondered “how the Colston four would have fared in a judge-only trial”.

He added: “I have listened carefully to ministers’ arguments, but I am nevertheless concerned that significant risks remain. I intend to support the bill’s second reading… but I also intend to continue engaging with ministers, and I look forward to my concerns being addressed as the bill progresses.”

Cooper was previously appointed as a government “business champion” for technology in the North West – a role established in February 2025 to facilitate engagement between the Labour administration and the private sector. The position was part of a network of approximately 40 MPs appointed by the Department for Business and Trade to act as conduits for industry views on government policy. The grouping operated under the oversight of Dan Tomlinson, the national “mission champion” for growth.

The selection of champions was designed to leverage the professional expertise of the 2024 intake of MPs, and the role was seen as an early step on the Westminster ladder. However, the scheme was reportedly scrapped in July 2025 following a meeting at 10 Downing Street. According to a Guido Fawkes report, the business champions were told that their services were no longer required.

Cooper is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for Down syndrome (co-chair).

Cooper delivered his maiden speech 10 October 2024 in a debate on Team GB and Paralympics GB.

In it, he said: “In the best tradition of British innovation, the people of Mid Cheshire have found interesting things to do with the holes in the ground after the salt has been removed. The Adelaide mine in Northwich once hosted a banquet for Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, with over 10,000 candles illuminating the orange crystal banqueting hall, all 130 feet below the surface.

“Today, the Winsford salt mine keeps the nation’s secrets, with over 33 km worth of papers from the National Archives stored safely underground, while just outside Middlewich, preparations are well under way to store the hydrogen produced by Cheshire’s Hynet project in the salt seam below.”

He added: “I have long believed that the people of our three great Mid Cheshire salt towns, and, indeed, our country, want a government who are on their side. They want politics and politicians to serve them, to end the chaos and dysfunction of Westminster and to rebuild our country.

“The key mission of this Labour government is to restore trust in politics, to show that politics can be a force for good, and to demonstrate that politics and politicians can deliver for people and change lives for the better.”

Before entering parliament, Cooper served as a Labour councillor for 10 years on Northwich Town Council from 2013 to 2024 and a councillor on Cheshire West and Chester Council from 2019 to 2024.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Cooper 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

Usdaw: Cooper is a member of the Usdaw Union Parliamentary Group – a group of MPs who are members of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) and work generally to represent the union’s interests within parliament.

Electoral reform

Fair elections APPG: Cooper is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Cooper 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, Cooper 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): Cooper 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.

Welfare vote (July 2025): Cooper 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

Cooper 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).

In a statement setting out his position, issued ahead of the bill’s second reading, Cooper said: “I believe the right to choose how and when we face mortality is a fundamental aspect of human dignity, particularly in the face of unbearable pain and suffering caused by terminal illness.

“In those circumstances, when medical interventions offer no relief and pain becomes relentless, affording people the choice of an assisted death, in my view, offers a compassionate alternative.”

Upon his election to parliament, Cooper said that, given the opportunity to introduce his own private members’ bill (PMB), he would seek to legislate over assisted dying.

He told the Northwich Guardian: “Affording people the right to die with dignity is long overdue. It’s been talked about since I was at school, but no real progress has been made.

“Other countries have demonstrated that with appropriate safeguards, it can be operated safely.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Cooper 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, Cooper 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

Born Andrew Graham Cooper in February 1984, he graduated from the University of Manchester in 2005 with a degree in Computer Science.

Before entering parliament, he worked as a software development director at MIS Active Management Systems Limited.

Personal Life

Cooper lives in his Mid Cheshire constituency.

Trivia

Cooper’s mother won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the European veterans championships in 2013.