Catherine Fookes is the Labour MP for Monmouthshire, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Fookes received 21,010 votes (41.3%). The Conservative candidate, David TC Davies, received 17,672 votes (34.8%), while the Reform UK candidate, Max Windsor-Peplow, secured 5,438 votes (10.7%). Fookes was elected with a majority of 3,338.

The Monmouthshire constituency is located in South East Wales and was newly created for the 2024 election. It was formed primarily from the previous Monmouth seat and parts of the former Newport East seat.

The predecessor Monmouth constituency had been held by David TC Davies of the Conservative Party since 2005. Davies served as secretary of state for Wales from October 2022 to July 2024.

Political Career

Fookes served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the prime minister in 10 Downing Street from September 2025 to July 2026. 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.

Fookes left government as part of the July 2026 reshuffle conducted by Andy Burnham upon his appointment as prime minister.

In May 2026, Fookes was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed a joint 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.”

In the wake of the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, Fookes was appointed by 10 Downing Street as a “mission champion” for Wales – a role intended to cut across departmental boundaries and support Labour’s programme for “national renewal”. These “missions”, first set out in 2023 and subsequently given less prominence, included boosting economic growth, reducing NHS waiting times, tackling crime, establishing a publicly owned clean energy company and expanding educational opportunity.

Fookes has sat as a member of the House of Commons women and equalities committee (2024-2025).

Fookes delivered her maiden speech on 24 July 2024 during a debate on education and opportunity.

In it, she said: “I have the honour to represent the beautiful, glorious county of Monmouthshire, and I am its first ever woman MP. As former chief executive of the Women’s Equality Network Wales, where I campaigned to get more women into politics, I can finally boast that I am practising what I preached.”

She added: “As a keen environmentalist, I will do everything I can to ensure we champion our environment and our rivers, including the River Wye and the River Usk, which flow through our beautiful county.

“The people of Monmouthshire have made it clear that they expect me to work cross‑border and cross‑party, with all the regulators, campaigners and action groups, to bring our rivers back to full health.”

Before entering parliament, Fookes served as a Labour councillor on Monmouthshire County Council from 2022 to 2024.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Fookes 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

Living Standards Coalition: Fookes 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.”

SERA: Fookes 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”.

Fair elections APPG: Fookes has been 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.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Fookes 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

Fookes 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).

Setting out her position, shortly before the bill’s second reading, Fookes told BBC News that watching her father suffer through a painful terminal illness led her to support the bill.

She said: “The last few days were incredibly difficult, he was in a lot of pain and it was really, really, really hard to see someone you really love going through that.

“He struggled to breathe and so seeing him like that made me realise that we needed a change of the law.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Fookes 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, Fookes 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 Catherine Ann Fookes in October 1970, she attended Godolphin School and studied business Studies and French at Middlesex Polytechnic. She later completed a master’s degree in development studies at the University of Bath.

Fookes worked as a campaigner for organisations including ActionAid and Sustain before entering frontline politics.

From 2017 until 2023, she served as the chief executive officer of the Women’s Equality Network (WEN) Wales.

Personal Life

Fookes has lived in Monmouthshire for over two decades.

Trivia

Fookes was endorsed by river pollution campaigner and rockstar Feargal Sharkey in the 2024 general election.