Jon Pearce is the Labour MP for High Peak, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Pearce won 22,533 votes, representing 45.8% of the vote. The Conservative incumbent, Robert Largan, received 14,625 votes (29.7%), while the Reform UK candidate, Catherine Cullen, secured 6,959 votes (14.1%). Pearce was duly elected with a majority of 7,908.

The High Peak constituency is located in Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is historically a marginal seat, and has changed hands between Labour and the Conservatives regularly since 1997.

Political Career

Pearce served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the prime minister in 10 Downing Street from September 2025 to July 2026. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs.

Pearce left this role as part of the July 2026 reshuffle conducted by Andy Burnham upon his appointment as prime minister.

Pearce was announced as UK special envoy for post-Holocaust issues in January 2026.

In May 2026, Pearce 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 June 2025, Pearce was one of 22 newly elected Labour MPs who co-signed a letter to the leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) calling for improved paternity leave for parliamentary staff. The letter, organised in collaboration with the campaign group The Dad Shift, argued that the current provision of two weeks’ paid leave was “unfair” and left parliament trailing behind leading private and public sector employers.

The letter said current rules meant MPs were “unable to support our staff appropriately at some of the most important times of their lives”.

They added: “Dads in our offices get just two weeks off, a situation that is unfair and puts parliament many steps behind top employers across the country.”

In response, a government spokesperson told PoliticsHome: “We are committed to making sure parents receive the best possible support to balance their work and home lives as part of our Plan to Make Work Pay.”

Pearce was appointed as the parliamentary chair of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) in September 2024. LFI is one of the most established and prominent advocacy groups within Labour, campaigning for a strong bilateral relationship between the UK and Israel and working to bolster ties with its sister party, Israeli Labor. The organisation advocates for a two-state solution, with a secure Israel alongside a “viable, democratic and independent” Palestinian state.

Responding to his appointment, Pearce commented: “I believe there’s rarely been a more important time for the shared ambitions of LFI and our new Labour government: to work towards two states for two peoples, promote peacebuilding between Israelis and Palestinians, strengthen regional security and prosperity, enhance the relationship between Britain and Israel, and fight anti-Zionist antisemitism…

“Keir Starmer defeated antisemitism in the Labour party. Now we must work with our new Labour government to defeat the scourge of antisemitism in the country.”

Pearce stepped down as LFI chair upon his appointment as a PPS in 10 Downing Street.

Reflecting on his tenure as chair, Pearce said: “It was an honour to serve as LFI chair, albeit often in the most difficult and distressing circumstances. Supporting their vital work for a two-state solution and to achieve peace, security and a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Pearce has sat as a member of the House of Commons science, innovation and technology committee (2024-2025).

Pearce delivered his maiden speech on 29 July 2024 during a debate on the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill.

In it, he said: “When I was young, my father worked on British Rail as a storeman. The stores were vast warehouses teeming with workers in train manufacturing and maintenance. The privatisation of Britain’s railways by John Major’s government resulted in thousands of job losses.

“Between 1990 and 1997, the number of rail workers in this country decreased from a quarter of a million to 130,000. Those are not just numbers; they are real lives, like those of my dad’s friends and workmates.

“The fear that my dad would be next, and about what that would mean for my family, was an unwelcome guest that lingered far too long in our house. Childhood experiences like that never leave you.”

He added: “The dignity and opportunity of a secure, well-paid job must be the foundation on which we deliver the economic growth that High Peak and Britain need. I look forward to using my experience as an employment lawyer to help us to deliver a new deal for working people.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Pearce 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: Pearce 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.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Pearce 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

Pearce 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).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Pearce 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 Jonathan Pearce on 29 July 1977, he grew up in Derbyshire. His mother was an NHS nurse and his father worked for British Rail.

Pearce attended Murray Park School and Mackworth Tertiary College. He studied history and politics at Newcastle University and law at Nottingham Law School.

Before entering parliament, Pearce was an employment lawyer and a specialist in equality and discrimination law.

Personal Life

Pearce lives in his High Peak constituency.

He is married. His wife is a doctor.

Pearce undertook three weeks of paternity leave following his election to parliament in 2024.

Trivia

Pearce is a lifelong supporter of Derby County FC.