Jim Dickson is the Labour MP for Dartford, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Dickson won 15,392 votes, representing 34.6% of the vote. The Conservative Party candidate, Gareth Johnson, received 14,200 votes (31.9%), while the Reform UK candidate, Lee Stranders, secured 9,523 votes (21.4%). Dickson was duly elected with a majority of 1,192 votes.

The Dartford constituency is located in Kent. Historically considered a bellwether seat, it has alternated between Labour and Conservative representation in line with the national result since 1964.

Dickson’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Dartford was Gareth Johnson of the Conservative Party. Johnson represented the seat from 2010 to 2024.

Political Career

Dickson is a member of the House of Commons Treasury select committee (since October 2025) – the committee tasked with scrutinising His Majesty’s Treasury and government policy on taxation and public spending. The committee’s remit also extends to scrutinising major financial institutions that shape the UK economy, including the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

In May 2026, Dickson was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed a 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.”

Dickson is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for smoking and health, sport and physical activity and Thames Estuary fair economic growth.

Dickson delivered his maiden speech on 24 July 2024 during a debate on Education and Opportunity.

In it, he said: “It has been said that when Labour is strong in Kent, we are strong in the country, and I think we are proving that with our presence in Parliament.”

He added: “I welcome the priority given to education under this new government. Investment cannot come soon enough, particularly at a time when Kent county council is looking at reducing the rights of parents of special educational needs pupils.

“Again, the arrival of a Labour government could not come soon enough…

“I stand here as a passionate advocate for better public health and for central and local government action to prevent ill health for all our population.

“That is why, in addition to the really welcome steps that the new government are taking to restore the NHS, I am particularly supportive of their decision to retain the bill proposed by the last government to prevent all those born after 2009 from starting smoking.”

Before entering parliament, Dickson accumulated extensive experience in local government. He was first elected as a Labour councillor on Lambeth London Borough Council in 1990, serving until 2025. He was leader of the council from 1994 to 2000.

During his tenure as leader, Lambeth Council was described by Tony Blair, the then prime minister, as “more New Labour than New Labour”.

Dickson previously stood for parliament unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Old Bexley and Sidcup in the 2001 general election.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Dickson 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

Get Britain Working Group: Dickson has been listed as a member of the Get Britain Working Group of Labour MPs – a caucus supportive of the Starmer leadership’s position on welfare. The group argues for a “new social contract built on employment and opportunity”, focusing on the rising number of people out of the workforce due to long-term sickness.

In an open letter, issued upon the group’s founding in March 2025, the group expressed its support for the government’s welfare measures set out in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill. The bill was subject to a significant revolt of over 120 Labour MPs – which forced ministers into a series of concessions shortly before its first vote in the House of Commons.

Ahead of the bill’s fraught second reading debate, the MPs wrote: “Our Labour values are built on a simple but powerful idea: that every individual, regardless of background or circumstance, should have the support they need to make the most of their lives.

“Everyone who is capable of working deserves the security, dignity and agency that employment offers. Of course, there are some people who are not able to work and they must be treated with compassion and respect. But for those that can, we must restore the pathways to opportunity which are currently so sparse for millions of people.

“It is exactly what a Labour government exists to do.”

Living Standards Coalition: Dickson 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.”

Electoral reform

Fair elections APPG: Dickson is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Dickson was one of over 70 Labour MPs who signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, calling on the government to establish a “national commission on electoral reform”. Tabled by Alex Sobel as chair of the fair elections APPG, the amendment aimed to force a rethink of the first past the post voting system.

At the time, Sobel described FPTP as “one of the biggest examples of a broken status quo in UK politics.” He invited colleagues to join this “common sense call to take a fresh look at how parliament is elected in modern Britain.”

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Dickson voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Dickson 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

Dickson 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 his position, issued shortly after the bill’s second reading, Dickson said: “I have been open minded about whether to support this legislation while recognising that the status quo is an incredibly unequal system where only those with sufficient funds are able to make choices about how their life ends.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Dickson 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 James Rowan Chatterton Dickson on 16 January 1964, he attended Wellington College in Berkshire and later studied social and political sciences at Jesus College, Cambridge.

During his time at university, Dickson was chair of the Cambridge University Labour Club.

He worked as a senior policy and research officer for the London Housing Unit (1990-1998) and as a visiting lecturer at the University of Westminster (1998-2000).

He was director of public affairs at Four Communications from 2006 to 2020.

Personal Life

Dickson lives in his Dartford constituency.

Trivia

Dickson is the second Labour MP for Dartford to have previously been a councillor in Lambeth. The first was Jennie Adamson from 1928 to 1931.