James Asser is the Labour Party MP for West Ham and Beckton, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Asser won 16,434 votes, representing 45.2% of the vote. The Newham Independents Party candidate, Sophia Naqvi, received 7,180 votes (19.8%), while the Green Party candidate, Rob Callender, secured 3,897 votes (10.7%). Asser was duly elected with a majority of 9,254.

The West Ham and Beckton constituency was created for the 2024 general election, primarily from the former West Ham constituency.

The predecessor West Ham seat was considered a safe Labour seat, held by the party continuously since 1994. Lyn Brown represented the seat for Labour from 2005 to 2024.

Political Career

Asser is a member of the House of Commons procedure committee (since November 2024) – the committee responsible for considering the practice and procedure of the House in the conduct of its public business. It can make recommendations to the House about the operation of the House’s Standing Orders for public business.

Asser is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for citizens’ rights, Lithuania, Thames Estuary fair economic growth and tidy Britain.

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

Asser delivered his maiden speech on 30 July 2024 during a debate on the Budget Responsibility Bill.

In it, he said: “My constituents do not lack ambition, aspiration or talent – they have it in inspirational quantities – but too often, they lack opportunity. Poverty is a real issue and, in recent years, has become much worse.

“Locally, we have seen children going to events in the hope of getting food because they are hungry; parents sleeping in shifts on mattresses on the floor because there is not enough room for the whole family to have beds; and children forced to do their homework in the bathroom because there is no other space for them to do it.

“This government were elected on a mandate for change.”

Prior to this, Asser served as a Labour Party councillor on Newham London Borough Council from 2018 until 2024.

Within Newham council, Asser held senior positions including cabinet member for environment and sustainable transport (from 2019) and deputy mayor (from 2022).

Asser has been active in the Labour Party for many years. He served as the socialist societies representative on the National Executive Committee (NEC) from 2015.

Asser was one of seven NEC representatives who were elected as MPs in 2024.

As Asser has written, the socialist societies “are officially the Labour Party’s (non-union) affiliates; those groups affiliated to the party that represent groups, interests, professions and policy areas who support the party, campaign for the party and campaign within it.”

Asser chaired the NEC from October 2023 until July 2024.

Following his election as NEC chair, Asser said: “A huge honour to be elected as the new chair of [Labour’s] national executive committee for 2023/24.

“Thanks to my NEC colleagues for putting their trust in me and to the socialist societies for their support in electing me as their rep for the last eight years.”

Asser was vice-chair of the NEC from September 2022 to October 2023 and chair of the equalities committee from December 2020 to January 2023.

Asser is also a former co-chair of LGBT+ Labour.

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Starmer stand down: In May 2026, Asser publicly called for Keir Starmer, the prime minister, to step down/set out a timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Asser 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

SERA: Asser 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”.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Asser 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

Asser 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): Asser 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, Asser 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 James Edward Asser on 2 July 1975 in Luton, he grew up in Dunstable.

Asser studied at the University of Central England, serving as vice-president (welfare) of the National Union of Students (NUS) from 1998 to 2000.

Asser has worked for organisations including the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Homeless Link, Hacked Off, Prostate Cancer UK, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), National Federation of ALMOs, Homes for Islington, NCVO, Hackney Council and Shelter UK.

He held communications and media roles.

Personal Life

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

In 2010, Asser was part of a group of LGBT+ Labour members involved in a reported incident where they were allegedly denied service in a London pub.

At the time, Asser stated: “Everyone involved was shocked and outraged. This attitude is totally unacceptable in this day and age.

“What century are we living in here?

“When you encounter prejudice you have to stand up and be counted – at the very least we expect an apology.

“We also want a demonstration that the pub chain takes this very seriously and will make sure it never happens again.”

Trivia

Asser has served as a school governor for Kingsford School, Beckton, Newham.