John Grady is the Labour MP for Glasgow East, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Grady received 15,543 votes (43.9%). The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, David Linden, received 11,759 votes (33.2%), while the Scottish Green Party candidate, Amy Kettyles, secured 2,727 votes (7.7%). Grady was elected with a majority of 3,784 votes.

The Glasgow East constituency was created in 2005 and is marginal between Labour and the SNP.

Grady’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Glasgow East was David Linden of the SNP. Linden represented the seat from 2017 to 2024.

Political Career

Grady currently serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in HM Treasury. 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. Grady was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Grady introduced the Space Industry (Indemnities) Act 2025 as a private member’s bill. Grady introduced legislation after his selection in the PMB ballot held at the start of the 2024-2026 parliamentary session. The act seeks to limit liability for spaceflight operators.

Speaking during the bill’s second reading, Grady said the proposed legislation would “push forward investment in the UK’s critical space sector.”

He stated: “It will amend two sections of the Space Industry Act 2018 to provide legal certainty that all space flight operator licences must include a limit on the amount of the operator’s liability to the government under section 36 of the act.”

Grady has sat as a member of the House of Commons Treasury select committee (2024-2026) and the public administration and constitutional affairs committee (Pacac) (2024-2025)

Grady has been listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Qatar (chair) and social mobility

Grady delivered his maiden speech on 8 October 2024.

In it, he said: “State education has been a huge part of my family’s life. My mum and my two aunts were state school teachers. Dad was a rebel, who trained teachers and taught English in a prison to immigrants.

“Many parents in Glasgow East struggle to pay for the bare essentials – the cost of the school day… Those parents have great aspirations for their children. The duty of any government is to focus their finite and limited resources on those families across our nation.”

He added: “The work of these great constituents I have mentioned points to our most urgent task: to fight against poverty. In Glasgow’s 850th year, my duty is simply to play my part in ensuring that no one in Glasgow East, or anywhere in this family of nations, walks alone”.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Grady 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: Grady 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.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Grady 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

Grady 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): Grady 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

Grady studied law at the University of Edinburgh and earned a postgraduate degree at King’s College, the University of London.

Before entering parliament, Grady worked as a partner at the law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn, and previously as a commercial and regulatory solicitor at SP Energy Networks.

Personal Life

Grady is married to Jill Brown, who has served as a Labour councillor on Glasgow City Council. They have two children.

Trivia

Grady’s greatest fear is needles.