Jen Craft is the Labour Party MP for Thurrock, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Craft secured 16,050 votes (42.7%). The Reform UK candidate, Sophie Preston-Hall, came second with 9,576 votes (25.5%), while the Conservative candidate, Jackie Doyle-Price, received 8,009 votes (21.3%). Craft was duly elected with a majority of 6,474.

The Thurrock constituency is located in Essex, East of England. Historically a marginal seat and something of a bellwether, it was held by Labour between 1992 and 2010. It was represented by the Conservatives from 2010 to 2024.

Craft’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Thurrock was Jackie Doyle-Price of the Conservative Party. Doyle-Price held the seat from 2010 to 2024.

Political Career

Craft is a member of the House of Commons health and social care select committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for scrutinising the work of the Department of Health and Social Care and its associated public bodies.

In May 2026, Craft 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.

In a statement at the time, Craft said: “Hard-working councillors, who were excellent champions of their communities, have been lost and are now unable to continue the excellent work of progressive change.

“It is time for a change in leadership – for someone to set out a clear, strategic vision and direction for our party and for the country. I urge the prime minister to step aside to enable this to happen.”

In the wake of the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, Craft was appointed by 10 Downing Street as a “mission champion” for the East – a role intended to cut across departmental boundaries and support Labour’s programme 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.

In March 2025, Craft led a debate in Westminster Hall to mark British Sign Language Week. She used British Sign Language (BSL) throughout her speech and called for the government to deliver a universal service of BSL support to the families of deaf children.

The debate marked the first time two interpreters had been used in parliament – one signing on the broadcast feed and one in the gallery at Westminster Hall.

Craft told the House: “It is the first time ever that live translation is being provided both in the chamber and broadcast from the studio on parliamentlive.tv. I am now the first MP to have used sign language in a debate in this parliament, and the first to do so since 2022, I believe.”

Craft is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for British Sign Language (chair) and learning disability (chair).

Craft delivered her maiden speech on 3 September 2024 in a debate on the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill.

In it, she said: “I would like to share my own personal story about my motivation for being here, beyond the love of my community and my desire to serve. Almost seven years ago, I found out that the baby I was carrying had Down’s syndrome – a rug-pulling, life-altering moment which I did not realise, but wish I had, would be the making of my family and the start of a truly incredible journey.

“As the actress Sally Phillips says, the special educational needs and disabilities parent club is the one no one wants to be in, but once you are there you realise that all the best people are there.

“However, the world does not work for families like mine. It does not work for children like mine, and it does not work for people like me and my daughter. When I received her diagnosis, I made her a promise that I would do everything I could to make her life easier. Little did I realise that it would lead me here.”

She added: “I am here to serve my community, to speak up for the home that I love and the people who live there. If by being here I can make a difference to the lives of children and families such as mine, I will consider it a job well done, however long my constituents may opt to keep me.”

Before entering parliament, Craft stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for the Stifford Clays ward in the 2019 Thurrock Council election.

Craft worked as campaign manager for Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge in the 2010 general election campaign in Barking. In that contest, Hodge defeated a prominent challenge from the British National Party (BNP) leader, Nick Griffin. This campaign has been referred to as the “Battle for Barking”.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Craft was one of 117 Labour MPs who nominated Lucy Powell 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.

Powell, the former leader of the House of Commons, was seen as a candidate representing the party’s “soft left”; she was supported by leading soft left figures including Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham. She secured 117 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), above the 80 required, and went on to win the election – defeating Bridget Phillipson with 54.3% of the vote.

Factional identity and party tradition

Living Standards Coalition: Craft is a member of the Living Standards Coalition. Established in July 2025, the group’s stated aim was to develop and promote policy ideas that directly reduce everyday costs for households, particularly in areas such as food, energy, housing and childcare. In an open letter published upon its founding, addressed to Keir Starmer, the MPs wrote: “Our constituents will ask one question at the next election: did this Labour government make me better off?”

They added: “To raise living standards, we support government interventions that will help to increase incomes and lower costs.”

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Craft was one of the over 120 Labour MPs to sign the reasoned amendment to the government’s flagship welfare bill which aimed to reject the proposed legislation.

The amendment, in the name of senior Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, objected to the fact that the bill had not been subject to a “formal consultation with disabled people” and that “250,000 people will be pushed into poverty” as a result of it, according to a government impact assessment.

The motion also called on the government to wait for the publication of the review into the Personal Independence Payment (Pip), helmed by minister Sir Stephen Timms, and the independent review, conducted by Sir Charlie Mayfield, into how the employment of disabled people could be boosted.

At the time, Craft said she had “really deep concerns” about the bill regarding its potential “impact on disabled people”.

She told the BBC: “I don’t think that disabled people have been engaged with or consulted with enough in the process of this bill.”

In a post to social media, Craft added: “I am a disabled woman and the mother to a disabled child. In my experience, when governments face tough choices, it’s disabled people who are the first to lose. I did not get into politics to maintain that status quo.

“I do recognise the need for welfare reform and welcome the government’s efforts to make work more accessible. For example, the ‘right to try’ policy, which will allow thousands of people to get a new job without worrying they’ll lose their benefits if things don’t pan out, a tailored employment support programme for disabled people and an uplift in the basic rate of universal credit.

“These steps are really positive, but the concerns I have remain significant enough for me to put my name to this amendment.”

Welfare vote (July 2025): Craft 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

Craft 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).

In a statement setting out her position, issued shortly after the bill’s third reading, Craft said: “I am broadly supportive of the principle of assisted dying for terminally ill adults, but this bill lacks the safeguards necessary to look after some of the most vulnerable in our society.

“I also have additional concerns around coercion, protections for those with eating disorders or mental health conditions, and the lack of palliative care in so many parts of our country – which denies people proper choice.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Craft 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 Jennifer Craft at Orsett Hospital, she grew up in Grays, Thurrock. She attended Grays Convent High School and Palmer’s College.

Craft studied politics and history at the University of Leicester.

Before entering politics full-time, Craft worked as a civil servant. She left this role to care for one of her children who has Down Syndrome.

Personal Life

Craft lives in Thurrock with her husband, Alastair Craft. They have two daughters.

Alastair Craft is a consultant and Labour member who stood for Thurrock Council in 2024.

Craft was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) as well as bipolar disorder by her 20s.

In May 2025, Craft criticised the care she had been afforded.

She told the commons: “I have never been asked what it is that I want from treatment, what it is that I want for my life and how I can be helped to get there.

“I have received care that is patronising, reductive, inconsistent and non-existent.”

Craft is “passionate about Send issues and disability rights”.

She told Centenary Action in February 2023: “I am disabled myself, with long term mental health issues, and reform of the mental health system is long overdue. I feel like things have gone backwards for disabled people with funding cuts and a lack of access. I will definitely take this up and campaign on it if I’m elected.”

Trivia

Craft managed Margaret Hodge’s successful 2010 “Battle for Barking” campaign amid a challenge from the BNP.