Anneliese Midgley is the Labour MP for Knowsley, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Midgley won 24,243 votes, representing 67.3% of the vote. The Reform UK candidate, Alexander Hitchmough, received 5,924 votes (16.4%), while the Green Party candidate, Graham Wickens, secured 2,772 votes (7.7%). Midgley was duly elected with a majority of 18,319.  

The Knowsley constituency is located in Merseyside, in the North West of England. It is considered a very safe Labour seat and has been held continuously by the party since its creation in 2010.

Midgley’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Knowsley was Sir George Howarth, who represented the seat from 2010 to 2024.

Political Career

Midgley currently serves as parliamentary secretary to the Treasury (government chief whip). Midgley was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Midgley, an influential force in the Labour Party, was a prominent organiser during the sensational June 2026 Makerfield by-election. She introduced Burnham to parliament in the wake of the contest, on the day Starmer announced his resignation as prime minister, and is seen as a member of the former mayor’s inner circle.

In May 2026, Midgley was among the group of Labour MPs who publicly called for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to consider his position. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

At the time, Midgley told the Guardian: “The results here and across the North are beyond our worst expectations. It’s truly devastating. Unless that changes significantly and quickly it’s clear the PM can’t lead us into another election.

“It was a mistake to block Andy Burnham in Gorton and Denton and if a situation arises, he should not be blocked again.”

Midgley has sat as a member of the House of Commons energy security and net zero committee (2024-2025) and culture, media and sport select committee (2025-2026).

Midgley has been listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for industrialised construction (chair), the Liverpool City Region, ticket abuse and action against gambling (chair).

Midgley delivered her maiden speech on 15 October 2024 during a debate on the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill.

In it, she said: “I am here today as a proud trade unionist. It is the trade unions that built the Labour party.

“I am proud to be a member of Unite and the GMB, and I am proud to be a former political director of Unite and adviser to the general secretary of the TUC. The unions are my second family, and it is because of them that I have come from the council estate to the parliamentary estate.

“I know why I am here: to speak for my class, the working class. I will not forget who I am or where I came from. It is my duty to stand up for the people of Knowsley and to champion our strengths – our dignity, our resilience and our sense of community.

“I will never talk down my part of the world or its people.”

She added: “We have never recovered from the devastation of deindustrialisation under Thatcher and 14 years of austerity. We still face lower wages, higher poverty and fewer opportunities, and we need secure, unionised jobs on decent wages so that people can get by and their kids can get on.

It is not much to ask, but it is everything. That is why Labour’s plan – the new deal for working people – is so close to my heart. It will be the greatest transformation in rights at work in a generation.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Midgley 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

Trade Union Group: Midgley serves as secretary of the Trade Union Group of Labour MPs executive. This long-standing group, founded in 1926, serves as a link between the Labour party and the trade union movement, aiming to ensure that the voices of working people and their unions are represented in parliament.

SERA: Midgley 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”.

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Midgley 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): Midgley 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

Midgley 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 issued after the bill’s second reading, Midgley said: “I have always believed that people have the right to die in dignity.

“However, I have serious concerns about what this bill could mean in practice. I worry that those closest to me, if told they had six months to live, would take a decision based on their feeling of being a burden to our public services and their loved ones.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Midgley 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, Midgley 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

Midgley was born and raised in Stockbridge Village, Knowsley.

Her father worked on the production line at the Ford factory in Halewood, and her mother was a social worker.

In her 2024 maiden speech, Midgley said: “Knowsley made me who I am. I was born and raised in Cantril Farm, a so-called slum clearance estate. My nan lived in the flats there, and I went to Brookside school, where my auntie Jean was a cleaner.

“My dad worked at Ford, on the production line, and with his secure, well-paid, unionised job, my mum and dad could give me a better life than they had had.”

Midgley’s first job, aged 13, was at the Beatles Shop in Liverpool. Midgley met Paul McCartney “a few times” while working at the store. She later worked as a DJ in nightclubs.  

Midgley worked for Ken Livingstone during his time as mayor of London and worked on Jeremy Corbyn’s successful Labour leadership campaign in 2015.

Midgley subsequently served as Corbyn’s deputy chief of staff as Labour leader (2015-2016) and later as Unite the Union’s political director.

She went on to join Keir Starmer’s team during the 2019-2024 parliament.

At the time, she posted to Twitter (now X): “I am delighted to be joining Keir Starmer’s team to help deliver a Labour government in 2024. Thank you to everyone at Unite the Union.”

Personal Life

Midgley is divorced.

Trivia

Midgley previously worked as a DJ in nightclubs.