Johanna Baxter is the Labour Party MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Baxter won 19,583 votes, representing 47.4% of the vote. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Jacqueline Cameron, received 13,056 votes (31.6%), while the Reform UK candidate secured 2,956 votes (7.2%). Baxter was duly elected with a majority of 6,527.

The Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituency was created in 2005 and held by Labour and Douglad Alexander until 2015.

Baxter’s immediate predecessor was Mhairi Black of the SNP. Black stood down from parliament at the 2024 election.

Political Career

Baxter served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office from May to July 2026. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs.

Baxter left government as part of the July 2026 reshuffle conducted by Andy Burnham upon his appointment as prime minister.

In May 2026, Baxter 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.”

In February 2026, during a meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), Baxter reportedly broke down in tears. It came as she reacted to the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s decision to urge Keir Starmer to resign as prime minister.

Baxter has campaigned prominently on the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children to Russian occupied territory or to Russia itself since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In April 2025, Baxter wrote to David Lammy, the foreign secretary, and John Healey, the defence secretary, calling for the establishment of a National Day of Action for the Stolen Children of Ukraine.

She wrote: “The United Kingdom has been at the forefront of supporting Ukraine in its fight for sovereignty. We must now lead the way in ensuring that these children are returned to their homes and their families and that those responsible for these heinous crimes are prosecuted.

“Will you meet with me to discuss how we can use a national day of action to raise awareness of this issue and what more the United Kingdom can do to ensure that justice is served and the stolen children of Ukraine are not forgotten?”

In December 2025, Baxter coordinated a letter of more than 130 cross-party MPs, addressed to the Foreign Office, calling for the protection of forcibly deported Ukrainian children to be a central component of any peace settlement.

The letter warned that a proposed US-brokered peace framework risked “extinguishing” the rights of children.

It stated: “Yet deeply disturbing reports in recent days indicate that the 28-point ‘peace framework’ for Ukraine, reportedly negotiated by the United States, makes no reference to the specific treatment of children, nor does it recognise their protected status under international humanitarian law…

“The omission of the special protection afforded to children is not a technical oversight: it clearly forms the basis of Russia’s deliberate attempt to dismantle the Ukrainian state by erasing Ukrainian identity one child at a time.”

In April 2025, Baxter was among the group of MPs placed on a sanctions list by the Russian government. The measure barred them from entering Russia and was presented by Moscow as a retaliatory response to the UK’s stance on the invasion of Ukraine.

In November 2025, Baxter was one of 34 cross-party MPs and peers who signed a letter to Ofcom demanding an investigation into the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The letter, led by Joani Reid, chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on antisemitism, called on the regulator to determine whether the platform was in breach of its legal duties under the Online Safety Act following a reported surge in antisemitic content and calls for violence against Jews on X.

Baxter has sat as a member of the House of Commons work and pensions select committee (2025-2026).

Baxter delivered her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 24 July 2024 in a debate on education and opportunity.

In it, she said: “A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work should not be much to ask, but wages have lagged behind costs in recent years. Too many people who are in work have had to claim benefits just to get by, and the number of those claiming unemployment benefits in my constituency is above the Scottish average.

“For too long, our communities have been failed and forgotten by two governments – but no more. I am proud of the commitments set out by our new Labour government to improve people’s lives, particularly the commitment to a new deal for working people.”

She added: “My values were shaped by my grandad, Tadeusz Sadowski. He was a Polish migrant who came to Britain and worked down our pits. The loss and trauma that he experienced by the war waged at home led him to seek a better life here and in Scotland.

“His experiences taught me that no matter their background or birthplace, everyone deserves the opportunity to live a decent life, free from persecution and prejudice.”

Baxter has a long history of activity within the Labour Party and the trade union movement. She served as chair of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) from 2022 to 2023, having been a member of the NEC for several years.

Baxter was constituency Labour Party (CLP) representative on the NEC from 2010 to 2016 and again from 2020 to 2024.

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

Baxter has served as the CLP representative on the Scottish Executive Committee since February 2017.

In July 2016, Baxter described an NEC meeting as an “utter disgrace” after the Corbyn leadership attempted to block a secret ballot on whether to allow Corbyn on to the leadership ballot automatically.

She said: “The leader of the Labour party voted against the proposal that we conduct our vote in private in order to protect NEC members who were receiving threats, bullying and intimidation. He voted against it. He endorsed bullying, threats and intimidation, by the fact of that vote.

“The only reason to vote against that is so the intimidation can continue. It’s the most shameful act I have ever seen. He showed his true colours in that vote. I have had people tweet and post my personal mobile online, directing people to me, directing their mob at me.”

Corbyn’s spokesperson responded that a secret ballot was “virtually unprecedented” and the issue had been the accountability of elected NEC members.

Baxter stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for the Scottish Parliament constituencies of Cunninghame North (2016) and Renfrewshire North and West (2021).  

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Baxter 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 Growth Group: Baxter has been listed as a member of the Labour Growth Group (LGG) – a vocal faction of backbenchers committed to ensuring economic growth remains the central mission of the government. The group, largely composed of MPs from the 2024 intake, positions itself as the voice of “the builders, not the blockers” and provides organised support for ministers taking on politically difficult decisions in the name of economic expansion.

In an open letter addressed to Keir Starmer, issued upon the group’s founding in July 2024, LGG MPs said it was imperative that “the government grasps the nettle and goes for growth”.

They added: “This absolutely has to start with the sweeping planning reforms to get Britain building again. Under the Tories, planning permissions for new homes hit record lows and housebuilding cratered. Indeed, not once in their 14 years in power did the Conservatives meet their housing targets.

“Energy and transport projects were promised but not built. That’s why we are writing to you to make clear that it’s in the national interest to start delivering on our manifesto promise, including 1.5 million more homes across this parliament at the earliest opportunity.

“A failure to act will not be forgiven by the public. Britain has a housing crisis and a huge infrastructure deficit – without strong and immediate action, this will only worsen.”

Labour Movement for Europe: Baxter was endorsed by the Labour Movement for Europe (LME) in the 2024 general election. Founded in 1981, LME is a pro-European socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. It campaigns for a close relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The organisation refers to itself as the “home of the pro-Europeans in the Labour and trade union movement”.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Baxter 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

Baxter 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): Baxter 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 March 1979 in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Baxter was the first in her family to go to university. She funded her way through university by working in a call centre

Before entering parliament, she served as head of local government for the trade union Unison Scotland.

She became a union representative at the age of 18.  

Personal Life

Baxter is married to Mark Glover, a public affairs professional.  

Trivia

Baxter became a union representative at the age of 18.