Anna Dixon is the Labour MP for Shipley, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.  

In the 2024 general election, Dixon won 21,738 votes, representing 45.0% of the vote. The Conservative Party candidate, Philip Davies, received 13,135 votes (27.2%), while the Reform UK candidate, Simon Dandy, secured 7,238 votes (15.0%). Dixon was duly elected with a majority of 8,603 votes.  

The Shipley constituency is located in West Yorkshire. The seat was held by the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2024, and prior to that by Labour from 1997 to 2005.

Dixon’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Shipley was Philip Davies of the Conservative Party. Davies represented the seat from 2005 to 2024.  

Political Career

Dixon is a member of the House of Commons public accounts committee (since October 2024). The PAC is the oldest and arguably one of the most powerful select committees in the House of Commons. Its primary function is to scrutinise the value for money of public spending, ensuring taxpayers’ money is spent wisely. First established in 1857, the committee does not examine the merits of government policy, only the cost and effectiveness of its implementation.

In May 2026, Dixon was among the group of Labour MPs who publicly called for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to resign or set out a clear timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

Speaking to BBC Politics North, Dixon said: “I’m afraid I am going to add my name to the list [of Labour MPs calling for Starmer’s resignation] that says basically that I don’t believe that the public any longer has confidence that the prime minister can take us successfully into the next set of elections.”

He added: “These were a terrible set of results, particularly in this region and I’m devastated for all those hardworking Labour councillors who have lost their seats given, in some cases, many decades of public service…

“I don’t think this is a reflection on those local Labour councillors, this is a reflection on national politics.

“I’m afraid I am going to add my name to the list that says basically that I don’t believe that the public any longer has confidence that the prime minister can take us successfully into the next set of elections.”

Dixon is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for carers, faith and society, housing and care for older people (chair), and patient safety.

In July 2025, Dixon called for a “radical redesign” of adult social care to address a system she described as one of the “meanest means-tested supports” in the UK. Writing for the House magazine, Dixon argued that “social care system could serve as a springboard for achieving many of the government’s wider goals.”

Dixon delivered her maiden speech on 29 July 2024 in a debate on the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill.

In it, she said: “My family – in particular my mum and dad, who are in the gallery – and my church taught me the values that I bring to my politics: that everyone should be able to live free from prejudice and discrimination, and that those of us who have plenty must share what we have and take action to lift people out of poverty and tackle inequalities.”

She added: “I am delighted to be part of the most diverse parliament, with some 263 women MPs on both sides of the House.

“On my first day, as I emerged from Westminster tube station and looked up in awe at the Palace of Westminster, I took a diversion across Parliament Square to pay homage to Millicent Fawcett, the social campaigner and suffragist whose statue stands alongside Churchill and Gandhi.”

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Dixon 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.

Electoral reform

Fair elections APPG: Dixon 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, Dixon 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, Dixon stated: “This amendment shows there is consensus from across the Parliamentary Labour Party – like the wider Labour movement – that Westminster’s voting system is not sustainable in a multi-party age. By setting up a national commission, Labour can build on this consensus and find a way forward.”

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Dixon 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): Dixon 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): Dixon 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

Dixon 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).

In a statement setting out her position, issued shortly after the bill’s third reading, Dixon said: “I have never held any principled objections to assisted dying, based on my faith or any other beliefs. However, I have been clear from the start that this legislative process has been flawed.

“In a context where we have an NHS that is beginning to recover but staff shortages remain critical, a social care system that is so heavily means tested it can wipe out all your wealth, and hospices which rely hugely on charitable fundraising to make ends meet, this is not the right time to be introducing assisted dying.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Dixon 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, Dixon 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

Dixon attended Ilkley Grammar School.

She studied social and political science at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and later attended the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She holds a PhD in social policy from the London School of Economics.  

Dixon worked at the health policy think tank, The King’s Fund, serving as director of policy until April 2013. Subsequently, she joined the Department of Health as director of quality and strategy and chief analyst.  

In 2015, Dixon became the chief executive of the Centre for Ageing Better. She was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List 2021 for services to wellbeing in later life.

She is the author of the book The Age of Ageing Better? A Manifesto For Our Future (2020)

Personal Life

Dixon is married.

Her great-grandfather Frederick Dixon fought and died in World War 1.

Her uncle, David, was the first black African to play golf for Oxford University.

Dixon told the commons in her 2024 maiden speech: “My late uncle David came to this country from Zambia on a scholarship and became the first black African to play golf for Oxford University – a golf legend 40 years before Tiger Woods hit the headlines.”

Trivia

Dixon is the first woman to be elected as MP for the Shipley constituency since its creation in 1885.