Ellie Reeves is the Labour MP for Lewisham West and East Dulwich, having first been elected to parliament for the predecessor seat of Lewisham West and Penge at the 2017 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Reeves won 27,406 votes, representing 59.0% of the vote. The Green Party candidate, Callum Fowler, received 9,009 votes (19.4%), while the Liberal Democrat candidate, Josh Matthews, secured 3,558 votes (7.7%). Reeves was duly elected with a majority of 18,397 votes.

The Lewisham West and East Dulwich constituency was newly created for the 2024 election, formed from parts of several South London seats. It covers areas including Forest Hill, Sydenham, and East Dulwich. It is considered a safe Labour seat.

Political Career

Reeves currently serves as attorney general. She was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Reeves previously served as solicitor general (2025-2026) and chair of the Labour Party and minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office (2024-2025).

Prior to the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, Reeves served as Labour’s deputy national campaign coordinator (September 2023 – July 2024).

Previously, Reeves served on the shadow front branch as shadow minister for prisons and probation (December 2021 – September 2023) and shadow solicitor general (April 2020 – December 2021).

In July 2019, Reeves was reportedly threatened with deselection after she put her name to a statement criticising the decision to re-admit Chris Williamson to the party. Williamson ​​had been suspended over allegations of antisemitism.

At the time, Reeves was 22 weeks pregnant.

A statement, signed by Reeves and over 120 Labour MPs and peers, said: “We call on Jeremy Corbyn to show leadership by asking for this inappropriate, offensive and reputationally damaging decision to be overturned and reviewed.

“Ultimately, it is for Jeremy Corbyn to decide whether Chris Williamson retains the Labour whip. He must remove it immediately if we are to stand any hope of persuading anyone that the Labour Party is taking anti-semitism seriously.”

In June 2018, Reeves resigned as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the Shadow International Development Secretary, Kate Osamor, to vote against the Labour whip on a motion regarding the UK’s membership of the European economic area (EEA). The Labour leadership had urged MPs to abstain. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs. Reeves was one of five parliamentary private secretaries – also Ged Killen, Anna McMorrin, Rosie Duffield and Tonia Antoniazzi – to step down.

In her resignation letter, addressed to Jeremy Corbyn, Reeves said that “breaking the whip is something I would be doing with a very heavy heart.”

She wrote: “Whilst campaigning at the general election, I stated that whilst I accepted the result of the referendum, I would not back any measures throughout the Brexit process that I believe would be to the detriment to the people of Lewisham West and Penge…

“Party unity is of the upmost importance to me and I would only break the whip in exceptional circumstances.

“I wish to place on record my thanks to your team who were helpful, understanding and courteous throughout our discussions. Although it is with a heavy heart that I make this decision, I cannot in good conscience abstain on this issue.”

Reeves was a member of the House of Commons justice committee from 2017 to 2020.

Reeves delivered her maiden speech on 12 July 2017 during a debate on the Grenfell Tower Fire Inquiry.

In it, she said: “The inquiry must now happen quickly, transparently and with the full inclusion of the victims, but what seems clear to me is that what happened at Grenfell Tower and then in the aftermath are symptomatic of a system that is broken; a system that neglects the poor and vulnerable; a system in which cost-effectiveness seems to have been put before health and safety; and a system that I have come to this place to change.”

She added: “Growing up, if anyone had told me that I would go on to become the member of parliament for my area, I would have laughed.

“Society never seemed to have much aspiration for girls from Cator Park School, and all too often we were written off, but I am here, and my sister [Rachel Reeves], is here, so as my former English teacher said during the general election campaign, Cator Park now has almost as many alumni in this place as Eton.”

Before entering parliament, Reeves served on Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) from 2006 to 2016, including as vice-chair (2015-2016).

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour leadership 2020: Reeves was one of 82 Labour MPs who nominated Keir Starmer for the party’s leadership in early 2020. The election was triggered by the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn following the party’s defeat in the 2019 general election, which resulted in Labour’s fewest seats in the House of Commons since 1935.

Starmer’s 82 nominations were the highest of any candidate. The shadow Brexit secretary won a decisive victory in the first round with 56.2% of the vote, defeating Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Reeves supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore agreed with a majority of her constituents, 65.4% of whom also voted to Remain.

People’s vote support (2019): Reeves signed a January 2019 statement by Labour MPs calling for a “people’s vote” or second referendum. The statement, signed by 71 Labour MPs, read: “Defeat of the Tory [Brexit] deal in a public vote would give us all a chance to campaign for the anti-austerity policies and a Labour government that deals with the true causes of the Brexit vote, and a reformed Europe that works for all people.”

Remain pledge: During the 2019 general election campaign, Reeves was one of 193 Labour candidates to sign the anti-Brexit “Remain pledge”, drawn up by the campaign group Remain Labour.

It stated: “Labour is committed to a confirmatory referendum, to give you the final say on Brexit. If elected as your Labour MP, I pledge to campaign to Remain in the EU.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Reeves 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

On the second reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, in November 2024, Reeves abstained. She voted in favour of the bill at the third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Reeves 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.

Foreign policy and security

Sanctioned (Russia): In April 2022, Reeves was among the group of MPs placed on a sanctions list by the Russian government. The measure barred them from entering Russia and was presented by Moscow as a retaliatory response to the UK’s stance on the invasion of Ukraine.

Before Politics

Eleanor Claire Reeves was born in Lewisham, London on 11 December 1980. Her parents were teachers. Her older sister is Rachel Reeves.

She grew up in Sydenham and attended Adamsrill Primary School and Cator Park Secondary School. She subsequently studied law at St Catherine’s College, Oxford.

Reeves joined the Labour Party aged 15.

Reeves qualified as a barrister and worked as an employment rights lawyer for over 10 years, representing trade union members for Unite and UCATT. She then set up her own business providing help to working mums and women facing maternity discrimination.

Personal Life

Reeves married John Cryer, a former Labour MP, in 2012. Cryer was elevated to the peerage as Baron Cryer of Leyton in 2024 after he stood down from the House of Commons in the general election of that year.

Reeves and Cryer have two children. Her sister is Rachel Reeves, the chancellor of the exchequer.

Trivia

Reeves reportedly took one day of parental leave in October 2019 after the House of Commons voted for an early general election.

On 30 October, Reeves stated: “Possibly the shortest lived maternity leave… back to work today planning my general election campaign. It has been a privilege [and] an honour to represent my home in parliament for the past [two-and-a-half] years and I hope that I will be able to continue to serve you.”

She had tweeted on 29 October: “Nine months pregnant and 4 days before l am due to give birth, I have finally started my mat leave. For the next 6 months my vote will be cast by proxy. There’s still a huge amount that needs to be done to make parliament more family friendly which I will continue to battle for.”