Damien Egan is the Labour MP for Bristol North East – having first been elected for this constituency at the 2024 general election. He previously entered parliament as the MP for the former Kingswood constituency, winning a by-election on 15 February 2024 caused by the resignation of the previous Conservative MP, Chris Skidmore.

In the 2024 general election for the new Bristol North East seat, Egan received 19,004 votes (45.3%). The Green Party candidate received 7,837 votes (18.7%), and the Conservative candidate secured 6,216 votes (14.8%). Egan was duly elected with a majority of 11,167.

The Bristol North East constituency covers the north-eastern suburbs of Bristol. It is a new seat created for the 2024 election following boundary changes. The seat was formed from parts of the abolished Kingswood constituency, alongside parts of the existing Bristol East, Bristol North West, and Filton and Bradley Stoke seats. The predecessor Kingswood seat was historically something of a bellwether constituency, changing hands between the Labour and Conservative Parties on several occasions between the February 1974 election and the 2024 by-election.

Egan’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Kingswood, Skidmore, represented the constituency from 2010 to 2024. Lord ​​(Robert) Hayward, the noted pollster and media commentator, represented the seat for the Conservative Party from 1983 to 1992 – when he was unseated by Labour’s Roger Berry.

Political Career

Egan is a member of the House of Commons work and pensions select committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for scrutinising the policies and spending of the Department for Work and Pensions and associated bodies.

Egan was appointed by 10 Downing Street as a “mission champion” for the South West, a role intended to cut across departmental boundaries and support the delivery of Labour’s long-term plan 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.

Egan is listed as a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI). LFI is one of the most established and prominent advocacy groups within Labour, campaigning for a strong bilateral relationship between the UK and Israel and working to bolster ties with its sister party, Israeli Labor. The organisation advocates for a two-state solution, with a secure Israel alongside a “viable, democratic and independent” Palestinian state.

In September 2025, a planned school visit by Egan to Bristol Brunel Academy in his constituency was cancelled. Steve Reed, the communities secretary, described the refusal to permit Egan as an “absolute outrage”. Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign welcomed the cancellation, pointing to Egan’s position as “vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel”. The campaign said Egan had “visited Israel since the current onslaught on Gaza began, demonstrating his support.”

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, promised to hold to “account those who prevented this visit to this school.”

Ofsted subsequently found “no evidence of partisan political views” and Egan’s visit was rearranged.

Egan was selected as Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Bristol North East in July 2023. The selection came after the boundary commission for England proposed the existing constituency, Kingswood, be split. The Bristol North East seat is composed of 35.8% of the old Kingswood constituency. Egan was then selected as the Labour candidate for the 2024 Kingswood by-election after the incumbent, Chris Skidmore, announced his resignation – both from parliament and the Conservative Party. The former energy minister responsible for enshrining the UK’s net zero pledge into law, Skidmore’s exited parliament in protest of then-prime minister Rishi Sunak’s relaxation of climate targets. Skidmore had already announced that he would be standing down as an MP at the time of the next election. He later declared his intention to vote for the Labour Party at the 2024 general election.

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At the Kingswood by-election, held on 15 February 2024, Egan secured 11,176 votes (44.9%) – with a majority of 2,501. The by-election took place on the same day as the Wellingborough by-election – also won by Labour from the Conservatives.

Egan overcame a Conservative majority of more than 11,000, recorded at the 2019 general election, to win the seat.

In his victory speech in Bristol, Egan pledged to give the constituency its “future back”.

He commented: “14 years of Conservative government have sucked the hope out of our country. There’s a feeling that no matter how hard you work, you just can’t move forward, and with [Rishi Sunak’s] recession we are left once again paying more and getting less.”

Egan is a patron of LGBT+ Labour – a socialist society formally affiliated with the Labour Party.

Egan is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Israel, and Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories.

Egan delivered his maiden speech on 19 March 2024 during a debate on trade. In it, he said: “Being elected in a by-election towards the end of a parliament does focus the mind; you have to think about making your moments count – indeed, Rishi [Sunak] could still call a surprise election tomorrow!”

He added: “Kingswood is a representative voice of decent British people who work hard and play by the rules, love their family, and just want the best for their children. Our job is to make sure that the country to which they give so much gives them a good future in return.”

Egan previously stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Beckenham in the 2010 general election, finishing third on 6,893 votes (14.5%). He stood as the Labour candidate for Weston-Super-Mare in the 2005 general election, again finishing third. He secured 9,169 votes (18.7%).

Before entering parliament, Egan served as the directly elected mayor of Lewisham in Greater London from May 2018 until January 2024. He resigned this post to contest the Kingswood by-election.

From 2010 to 2018, Egan served as a Labour councillor for the Lewisham Central ward on Lewisham Council. He sat as the council’s cabinet member for housing between 2014 and 2017/18.

His first elected role was as a parish councillor on Downend and Bromley Heath Parish Council in the Bristol area, serving from 2003 (elected age 21) until 2007.

Political Views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Egan 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. he was ultimately defeated by Lucy Powell.

Factional identity and party tradition

Get Britain Working Group: Egan has been listed as a member of the Get Britain Working Group of Labour MPs – a caucus supportive of the Starmer leadership’s position on welfare. The group argues for a “new social contract built on employment and opportunity”, focusing on the rising number of people out of the workforce due to long-term sickness.

In an open letter, issued upon the group’s founding in March 2025, the group expressed its support for the government’s welfare measures set out in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill. The bill was subject to a significant revolt of over 120 Labour MPs – which forced ministers into a series of concessions shortly before its first vote in the House of Commons.

Labour Friends of Nato: Egan is a patron of Labour Friends of Nato (LFN), a parliamentary network and pressure group established in January 2026 to reinforce the Labour Party’s commitment to the Atlantic alliance. According to a LabourList report, the group seeks to deepen understanding of Nato’s strategic role among MPs and party activists. It also seeks to provide a platform to rebut political arguments from both the left and right that seek to diminish Britain’s involvement in the treaty.

The formation of the network was framed by its founders as a return to the post-war traditions of the Clement Attlee government, which helped establish the alliance.

The group set up with plans to organise fact-finding missions to Nato’s military and political headquarters in Brussels and hosting an annual lecture in honour of Ernest Bevin, the former foreign secretary and Nato treaty signatory.

Labour Movement for Europe: Egan 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): Egan 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

Egan 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).

Speaking during an April 2024 Westminster Hall debate, Egan expressed his concern that assisted dying could be seen as an “alternative to palliative care – about people feeling like a burden on their families, and of course about coercion.”

However, he pointed to the example of Oregon, “where legislation has existed for 27 years, and has not actually been extended”.

He added: “Assisted dying is limited with strict safeguards: people must have a terminal illness, life expectancy of less than six months, and there must be cooling-off periods. Interestingly, a third of people who start that route never take end-of-life drugs, but they are reassured that they have that choice, if needed.”

Egan has since referred to assisted dying as a matter of “choice and individual freedom.”

Speaking to the Irish Post, Egan argued that the current system leaves too many people suffering “excruciatingly awful” deaths – unless they have the money to travel to countries, like Switzerland, where the practice is legal.

“We need to have a system that has all the checks and balances in place”, he added.

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Egan 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 in Cork, Ireland, on 8 July 1982/1983, Egan grew up in North East Bristol. His family experienced homelessness during his childhood.

He attended Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School and Hanham High School in the Bristol area.

He later studied Drama at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham (now St Mary’s University), graduating in 2004.

Personal Life

Egan was raised Catholic and converted to Judaism (Reform) in 2018.

In an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, published May 2019, Egan spoke about his decision to convert to Judaism.

Egan, then the mayor of Lewisham, said: “I think of myself as an open person and don’t like to hide anything and yet, at some points over the last year, you feel like you’re hiding something.”

He added: “People do know I’ve converted, it’s not hidden, but it’s not exactly open either. I’d like to be more open and then feel I can speak up a bit more about issues as they’re happening.

“I think I’d really regret it if I looked back on my period as mayor and thought I didn’t really say anything; I’d be really disappointed with myself.”

Egan said that he was concerned about the reaction to his conversion of some in the Labour Party. “Of course, it shouldn’t matter – and no-one should be interested because it shouldn’t be interesting – but it makes you anxious, which is difficult because I love the Labour party”, he commented.

Egan went on to accuse the Labour Party, then under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, of “failing to understand” why Jewish people would be scared of it.

He said: “Today we see rising antisemitism. It’s not like something in the distant past. We’ve seen shootings in synagogues. At my shul, as in synagogues around the country, we take it in turns for the security rota. It’s all real; it’s people’s actual lived experience. The Labour Party is failing to understand why people would be so scared.”

He called on the party leadership to speak to “all Jews – not just Jews that you feel comfortable talking to.”

In 2024, PinkNews listed Egan among a number of out LGBTQ+ parliamentarians.

Egan is married to Yossi Felberbaum, who is Israeli-born.

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Upon his election to parliament, Egan was reportedly offered extra security over threats he received relating to his Israeli husband’s service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Trivia

Egan is a trustee of the Jewish Museum London.