Baggy Shanker is the Labour and Co-operative MP for Derby South, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Shanker won 14,503 votes, representing 38.8% of the vote. The Reform UK candidate, Alan Graves, received 8,501 votes (22.7%), while the Workers Party candidate, Chris Williamson, secured 5,205 votes (13.9%). Shanker was duly elected with a majority of 6,002.

The Derby South constituency is located in the East Midlands. It has been held by the Labour Party since its creation in 1950.

Shanker’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Derby South was Dame Margaret Beckett of the Labour Party, who represented the constituency for 41 years from 1983 to 2024.

Political Career

Shanker currently serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. 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. Shanker was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Shanker served as a parliamentary private secretary in the Ministry of Defence from May to July 2026. His appointment to this PPS role was part of a targeted reshuffle designed to stabilise Keir Starmer’s position as prime minister after a series of resignations. At least four PPSs stepped down calling for Starmer to resign or set out a timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru. Conversely, Shanker’s appointment signalled their support for the prime minister.

As such, Shanker was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed the May 2026 joint statement insisting it was “no time for a leadership contest.”

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.”

Shanker was appointed as a government “business champion” for engineering in the East of England – 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.

Shanker has sat as a member of the House of Commons transport select committee (2024-2026).

Shanker delivered his maiden speech on 24 July 2024 during a debate on education and opportunity.

In it, he said: “It means so much that the residents of Derby South placed their confidence and trust in me, and it is the honour of my life to amplify their voices in this place.

“I was born and raised in the constituency that I now represent, where my parents settled in the 1950s to help rebuild the country after the devastation of the second world war. My father exchanged his simple farming tools, on which he relied to feed his family in the Punjab, for overalls in a local engineering foundry.

“Just one generation later, I stand here delivering this speech in this place. It still feels a little surreal.”

He added: “We must harness the industriousness of places such as Derby and couple it with bold and ambitious legislation to build a Britain that works for working people once again. Nowhere is that vision more needed than in my home city and many other cities across the UK.”

Before entering parliament, Shanker had a long career in local government. He was first elected as a councillor on Derby City Council in 2008. He led the council from 2023-2024; he was removed as leader after opposition councillors successfully passed a motion of no confidence, which Shanker described as “a desperate act of political opportunism”.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Shanker was one of 175 Labour MPs who nominated Bridget Phillipson 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.

Phillipson, the serving education secretary, was widely viewed as the candidate favoured by Downing Street and the party leadership. She secured 175 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 80 required to reach the final ballot. She was ultimately defeated by Lucy Powell.

Factional identity and party tradition

Living Standards Coalition: Shanker 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): Shanker 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

Shanker voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at second reading (November 2024). On the third reading of the bill in June 2025, Shanker did not record a vote.

Before Politics

Bhagat Singh Shanker was born and raised in Derby. His father immigrated to the UK in the 1950s, worked in a Derby foundry, and was active in the local community.

Shanker worked as a project manager at Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace in Derby. He also previously worked for the chemicals company Celanese.

Personal Life

Shanker is of British Indian heritage and is Sikh.

He is married.

Trivia

Shanker was formerly leader of Derby City Council.