Jayne Kirkham is the Labour and Co-operative MP for Truro and Falmouth, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Kirkham received 20,783 votes, representing 41.3% of the vote share. The Conservative candidate, Cherilyn Mackrory, received 12,632 votes (25.1%), while the Liberal Democrat candidate, Ruth Gripper, secured 6,552 votes (13.0%). Kirkham was duly elected with a majority of 8,151 votes.

The Truro and Falmouth constituency is located in the county of Cornwall in the South West.

Kirkham’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Truro and Falmouth was Cherilyn Mackrory of the Conservative Party. Mackrory held the seat from 2019 to 2024 .

Political Career

Kirkham serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (since May 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.

Kirkham’s appointment to this PPS role was part of a targeted reshuffle designed to stabilise Keir Starmer’s position as prime minister after a series of resignations. At least four PPSs stepped down calling for Starmer to resign or set out a timetable for his departure. Kirkham succeeded Tom Rutland. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru. Conversely, Kirkham’s appointment signalled their support for the prime minister.

Indeed, Kirkham was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed the May 2026 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 February 2026, Kirkham expressed criticisms about the government’s proposed overhaul of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) guidelines in a Westminster Hall debate. The session, which was triggered by two public petitions signed by over 330,000 people, focused on Home Office proposals to replace the established five-year pathway to permanent residency (also known as indefinite leave to remain or settlement) with a 10-year baseline under an “earned settlement” model.

In the debate, Kirkham expressed reservations about the retrospective nature of the proposals.

She stated: “Some of those people have been living and working in the UK for three to four years, and they assumed that they would soon be eligible for indefinite leave to remain. Now, however, healthcare assistants and care workers in my constituency potentially face 15 years of uncertainty.

“​​These people came to the UK on expensive work visas with an understanding that they could apply for settled status after five years. As other members have already said, one of my constituents described his reaction to the proposed changes as feeling like the goalposts were constantly being moved.

“These people have invested their hearts and their families in this country, as well as their money.”

Kirkham has sat as a member of the House of Commons environment food and rural affairs select committee (2024-2026).

Kirkham has been listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Celtic Sea (chair), deep geothermal, floating offshore wind and shellfish aquaculture.

Jayne Kirkham delivered her maiden speech on 5 September 2024 during a debate on the Great British Energy Bill.

In it, she said: “Becoming a single parent was sudden and difficult, but I was fortunate. I benefited from the opportunities offered by the last Labour government and was able to get back on my feet.

“I retrained and took a job as a teaching assistant working in a local secondary school for seven years, first in special educational needs and later as an unqualified teacher, which shows the journey that education has been on.”

She added: “I am pleased that the measures in this government’s programme – a real living wage, the water Bill, devolution and renters rights – will help to address some of those issues, but it is shocking that many of the issues that he mentioned then are, sadly, still very much in evidence today, half a century on.

“For a place on the edge of the map, Cornwall is too often at the edge of our thoughts in this place. Like Penhaligon, I believe that Cornwall, with its proud and independent heritage, deserves better.”

Before entering parliament, Kirkham was elected as a Labour councillor on Cornwall Council in 2018. She stood down from this role in August 2024.

Kirkham previously stood as the Labour candidate for Truro and Falmouth in the 2017 general election.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Kirkham 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

Labour Rural Research Group: Kirkham has been listed as a member of the Labour Rural Research Group (LRRG) – a caucus made up of MPs representing Labour’s so-called “rural wall”. Launched in August 2025, the group’s primary aim is to ensure that policy is developed with a clear understanding of the distinct challenges and priorities of rural and semi-rural communities.

The LRRG, chaired by the Suffolk Coastal MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, conducts research and consultations to challenge what it sees as a “rural blind spot” in Whitehall.

Its first report, “Understanding Rural Britain”, surveyed voters on issues from healthcare and the economy to housing and the environment, seeking to build an evidence-based policy platform. The survey found nearly three quarters (74.4%) of respondents believe rural communities had been overlooked over the past 15 years. On the back of the report, Riddell-Carpenter stated that using the labelling rural voters as Nimbys (not in my back yard) was “toxic” and maintained “many people rightly despise the term”.

Compass: Kirkham was endorsed by local groups of the cross-party organisation Compass during the 2024 general election. Compass is a thinktank and campaign group. As part of its “Win as One” campaign in the 2024 election, local Compass groups backed a slate of progressive candidates who had pledged their support for electoral reform. The central aim of the initiative was to elect a “caucus” of MPs who would champion the cause of replacing the first past the post (FPTP) electoral system.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Kirkham 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

Kirkham 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 issued shortly after the bill’s third reading, she said: “I have attended every one of the four parliamentary sessions on the bill and voted in favour on the second reading, but didn’t finally decide how to vote until the speaker called the division today.

“I wanted to hear the debate and keep considering the evidence up to the last minute, but I fundamentally agree with the majority of constituents who contacted me, that people should have the choice, as far as they are able, within the tight safeguards set out in this most restrictive of assisted dying bills.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Kirkham 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 September 1972, Kirkham studied law at the University of Southampton. She obtained a postgraduate diploma in law from the University of Law.

She worked as a solicitor specialising in trade union and employment rights.

Personal Life

Kirkham lives in her Truro and Falmouth constituency.

In her 2024 maiden speech, Kirkham told the House: “I arrived in Cornwall quite by accident nearly 20 years ago, having been swept off my feet by a naval pilot who tempted me away from life as a London trade union lawyer, with images of beaches and sunsets.”

“Unfortunately, as is often the case, our military marriage was short, and I was left as a single mum with a small son. But I chose to stay and bring him up in Cornwall, and it is very much our home.”

Trivia

Kirkham was appointed as a PPS in the May 2026 government crisis.