Emma Foody is the Labour (Co-op) MP for Cramlington and Killingworth, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Foody received 22,274 votes (49.1%). The Reform UK candidate, Gordon Fletcher, received 9,454 votes (20.8%), while the Conservative candidate, Ian Levy, received 8,592 votes (18.9%). Foody was elected with a majority of 12,820 votes.  

The Cramlington and Killingworth constituency is in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, North East England. It was newly created for the 2024 election, formed from parts of the former Blyth Valley, North Tyneside, Tynemouth, and Newcastle upon Tyne North seats.  

Political Career

Foody currently serves as vice chamberlain of HM Household (government whip). She was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Foody served as an assistant whip from June to July 2026. Her appointment to this role was part of a mini-reshuffle triggered by John Healey’s resignation as defence secretary. It came at a time of acute pressure for Starmer in the wake of the May 2026 elections.

Previously, Foody served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Education (2024-2026). 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.

Foody delivered her maiden speech on 19 July 2024 during a debate on planning, the green belt and rural affairs.

In it, she stated: “My home, and where I grew up, is a little place called Wideopen. It was once represented by Margaret Bondfield, a giant of our Labour movement. She was a shop worker and trade unionist who was the first ever woman in the cabinet.

“As a former shop worker, and a trade unionist and Co-operative member, it is a pleasure for me to see in the gracious speech provision for the protections that shop workers deserve and need in order to make our high streets stronger.”

She added: “When I first got involved in politics, I was warned that it could be a boys’ club. Well, those people underestimate the girls of Sacred Heart high school, which all three of us [Catherine Mckinnell and Mary Glindon] attended. There, we were told in no uncertain terms that places like this are meant for people like us.

“To serve alongside my honourable friends is a tremendous privilege.”

Before entering parliament, Foody served as assistant general secretary of the Co-operative Party.

Foody also worked for the Labour Party as regional director for the East Midlands (2017-2020) and as deputy police and crime commissioner for Nottinghamshire.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Foody 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.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Foody 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

Foody 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).

In a statement setting out position issued shortly after the bill’s second reading, Foody said: “I am concerned that currently it is the burden of the Criminal Prosecution Service to decide those cases that are murder or manslaughter, those that do represent the criminal offence of assisted suicide, and those where there should be no criminal charge at all without the proper legislative framework in doing so.

“It means currently decisions are shaped with the fear of exposing loved ones to legal risk. That, it strikes me, is not acceptable.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Foody 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

Foody was born in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. She attended St Charles R.C Primary School and Sacred Heart Catholic High School.

She graduated from the University of Nottingham with a degree in history and politics.

She worked at the North East Ambulance Service between 2008 and 2011, including as a 999 emergency call handler and later as a quality and performance officer.

She held a series of roles in the Labour Party from 2011 to 2021.

Personal Life

Foody is married to Alex Norris, the Labour MP for Nottingham North.

Her father worked for the NHS and her mother worked in factories and pubs before working at Northern Rock.  

Trivia

Foody volunteers locally as an NHS first responder with the North East Ambulance Service.