Catherine Atkinson is the Labour Party MP for Derby North, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Atkinson won 18,619 votes, representing 45.5% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Amanda Solloway, received 9,704 votes (23.7%), while the Reform UK candidate, Tim Prosser, secured 7,488 votes (18.3%). Atkinson was duly elected with a majority of 8,915.

The Derby North constituency is considered marginal and has changed hands between Labour and the Conservatives frequently since 2010. Atkinson succeeded Solloway, who represented the seat for the Conservatives from 2015 to 2017 and again from 2019 to 2024.

Chris Williamson represented the seat for the Labour Party from 2017 to 2019.

Political Career

Atkinson currently serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Health and Social Care. 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. Atkinson was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Atkinson served as a parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Ministry of Justice from May to July 2026. Her appointment to this post was part of a targeted reshuffle designed to stabilise Keir Starmer’s position as prime minister after a series of resignations.

As such, Atkinson was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed the May 2026 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.”

Previously, Atkinson served as a PPS in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office from September 2025 to May 2026.

Upon her appointment to this PPS role, Atkinson commented: “Honoured to be appointed as parliamentary private secretary to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office team. I look forward to supporting the foreign secretary and ministers in their work representing and promoting British interests.”

At the beginning of the parliament elected in 2024, Atkinson stood unsuccessfully for election as chair of the transport committee. In the contest, the results of which were announced in September 2024, Atkinson secured 121 votes, placing third. They were eliminated in the second round.

They were ultimately defeated by Ruth Cadbury, who won the support of 328 colleagues.

In their official campaign statement, Atkinson said: “I have had one of the best possible apprenticeships for this role, 17 years as a barrister, seven of which spent leading a team of barristers on a public inquiry. These instilled in me the skills of cross-examination, evidence gathering and analysis.”

She added: ” I will launch an inquiry into the challenges facing transport businesses spanning sustainability, digital transformation, supply chain resilience, and infrastructure investment.”

Atkinson is chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers. She has served as secretary of the organisation and has also been listed as the parliamentary liaison for the group.

In December 2025, Atkinson defended the government’s plans to restrict jury trials. She described the move as a “difficult but necessary” decision taken in the “national interest”, claiming that the current system allowed some defendants to “exploit the backlog to game the system” by electing for jury trials in the hope that delays would cause cases to collapse.

In an article for the House magazine, she wrote: “Something has to change. Without action, these factors will continue to compound. The backlog will grow. Victims will remain without justice. Trust in the system will continue to be eroded.

“Leadership isn’t about easy answers. In this situation, there is no easy way out. As a government, we have chosen a path shaped by responsible and necessary decisions.”

Atkinson previously served as a member of the House of Commons transport select committee from October 2024 to October 2025.

Atkinson is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPG) for women in transport.

Atkinson delivered her maiden speech on 24 July 2024 in a debate on education and opportunity.

In it, she said: “My own background, a mix of Lancastrian and Mexican American, is perhaps an unusual one, but I have never felt out of place – many communities, but one Derby.”

She added: “Speaking here for the first time, there is a very special sense of responsibility and humility, and neither role would have been possible without the good state education that I had. Wanting to give back is why I used to be a chair of governors at a nursery school and children’s centre.

“It is why I helped to lead the successful campaign to stop the closure of Ashgate nursery school. It is why I am committed to championing all the nurseries, schools and colleges and the university in Derby North.”

Before entering parliament, Atkinson served as a Labour councillor in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea from 2006 to 2010.

Atkinson stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Erewash in three consecutive general elections (2015, 2017 and 2019), finishing second each time to the Conservative candidate Maggie Throup. In 2019, Throup secured 27,560 votes (56.5%); Atkinson won 16,954 (34.7%).

Atkinson also contested Kensington and Chelsea in the 2005 general election, placing third behind the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative incumbent and former cabinet minister Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Atkinson 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

Labour Movement for Europe: Atkinson 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”.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Atkinson 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

Atkinson 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): Atkinson 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.

Before Politics

Born Catherine Helen Atkinson, she attended Sacred Heart High School in Hammersmith, London. She holds a first-class degree in divinity from the University of Edinburgh and completed a law conversion course at City, University of London.

She was called to the bar in 2006. Her interests were in personal injury, employment, fraud and public family cases.

She previously managed a team of barristers on the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

Personal Life

Atkinson is married to Daniel, who served in Afghanistan and later as a Daniel firefighter with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service. They have three children.

Two of her grandparents were Mexican-American.

Trivia

Atkinson was awarded the Lincoln’s Inn Gluckstein prize and was a Lord Haldane Scholar during her legal training.