Jonathan Hinder is the Labour MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Hinder received 16,129 votes (34.5%). The Conservative candidate, Andrew Stephenson, received 15,227 votes (32.6%), while the Reform UK candidate, Victoria Fletcher, secured 8,171 votes (17.5%). Hinder was elected with a majority of 902 votes.

The Pendle and Clitheroe constituency is located in Lancashire, North West England. It was newly created ahead of the 2024 election.

The seat primarily replaced the former Pendle constituency, which was held by the Conservative Party. Andrew Stephenson represented the Pendle seat from 2010 to 2024.

Political Career

In May 2026, Hinder was among the group of Labour MPs who publicly called for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to resign or set out a clear timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

In an appearance on BBC Newsnight at the time, Hinder criticised a recent speech by Starmer for its reference to free movement of young people in the European Union. He described the address as “at best tone deaf” and “at its worst, downright insulting”.

He added: “You need to speak for the country, and you need to speak to the country, and I am sorry to say, I really am sorry to say, he cannot do that, so we need a new leader for the Labour Party, and more importantly, we need a new leader for the country.”

Hinder went on to criticise those candidates vying to succeed Starmer as leader, principally Wes Streeting, for appearing to reopen the Brexit debate. He said that the “idea that we can reconnect with our working class base by reopening this [Brexit] debate is just a staggering level of out of touch.”

Hinder stated: “We are just over a week after we took a real beating in our working-class heartlands… And to suggest the solution now is for us to reopen that debate is just staggering, and the Labour Party is in an existential crisis, it really is, and the idea that we can reconnect to our working-class base by reopening this debate is just a staggering level of out of touch.”

In January 2026, Hinder was one of over 60 Labour MPs to sign a letter to the prime minister calling for the introduction of an Australia-style ban on social media access for children under the age of 16. Organised by Plymouth Moor View MP Fred Thomas, the initiative brought together a cross-factional coalition of backbenchers – spanning the Socialist Campaign Group, Tribune Group and Blue Labour – to demand action.

The letter called on Keir Starmer to “show leadership” by introducing a minimum age for social media access “to protect young people from the consequences of unregulated, addictive social media platforms”.

It stated: “We are all strong supporters of technology, and of this Labour government’s ambition to use tech to improve lives. But successive governments have done far too little to protect young people from the consequences of unregulated, addictive social media platforms.”

Hinder is listed as chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for policing.

Hinder delivered his maiden speech on 3 September 2024 during a debate on the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill.

In it, he said: “The demands on policing have grown dramatically in recent decades, with increased reporting of domestic abuse, sexual offences and fraud, while policing has also felt the strain of other public services that have been run down and are not fit for purpose: the criminal justice system, mental health services and children’s care.

“As we rebuild our public services – and we will – we need to simplify the policing mission, which has become blurred and, frankly, too broad.

“Let us decide what we really want from our police, which means deciding what we do not want our police to do, and where policing stops and other public services are better placed to step in.”

He added: “Regional inequality in our country is stark, and we need serious investment in infrastructure, such as by reinstating the short rail link between Colne in Lancashire and Skipton in Yorkshire, if we are to see small towns in the north of England thrive and prosper.”

Before entering parliament, Hinder stood unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate for Ribble Valley Borough Council in the May 2023 local elections.

Political Views

Factional identity and party tradition

Blue Labour: Hinder is a member of the Blue Labour group in parliament. Founded by Labour peer Lord Glasman in 2009, the Blue Labour creed champions what it terms the politics of “faith, family and flag”, embracing a form of social conservatism with a progressive or left-wing economic policy. Blue Labour articulates a critique of both New Labour’s social liberalism and free-market globalisation.

In March 2025, Hinder contended that “the British government does not run this country” because it had given away too much decision-making power to unelected bodies. Writing for Politics.co.uk, he welcomed the decision to dismantle NHS England as a necessary step to restore direct political accountability over public services.

In particular, Hinder criticised the outsized influence of organisations like the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

He wrote: “The British government does not run this country. It has given away much of its decision-making power, weakening its ability to direct the country, despite the state’s increasing size.”

He added: “If we are to stop working class people turning away from politics, thinking that engagement with democracy achieves nothing, this Labour government must urgently show that politics matters, because politicians make the key decisions.

“Let this be the week that the democratically elected government started to run the country again.”

The article was praised by figures including former prime minister Liz Truss and the former chief adviser to Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings.

In April 2025, Hinder said that “too many working-class people see Labour as the party of immigrants, minorities, those on benefits” and suggested the party needed to “correct” this to maintain working class voters. He also said there is “nothing economically left-wing” about high levels of immigration.

In June 2025, Hinder co-authored a LabourList article expressing his support for the tradition.

He wrote: “Blue Labour’s politics is about the work we do, the people we love, and the places to which we belong. It is an explicit challenge to the neoliberal, capitalist consensus, and it belongs to the radical labour tradition.

“A Blue Labour economy would mean a balanced relationship between state, market and society, recognising that large, private corporations now possess far too much power over our country.”

Fair elections APPG: Hinder is listed as a supporter 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.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Hinder 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

Hinder voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at second reading (November 2024). However, he went on to vote against the bill at third reading (June 2025).

Ahead of the bill’s third reading, Hinder was the co-signatory of a letter to Labour MPs that argued the bill had been “drastically weakened” since second reading.

The letter stated: “The bill presented to MPs in November has been fundamentally changed.

“This is not the safest bill in the world. It is weaker than the one first laid in front of MPs and has been drastically weakened.”

It said colleagues with “any doubts about the safety of this Bill” should “join us tomorrow and vote against it”.

Hinder was one of 14 MPs to oppose the bill at third reading having supported it at second reading.

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Hinder voted against 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.

Hinder was one of 25 Labour MPs to vote against the amendment.

Before Politics

Born Jonathan James Hinder, he grew up in the village of Downham, Lancashire. He attended Clitheroe Royal Grammar School.

He studied history and politics at the University of Oxford.

After university, Hinder joined the police service in London, where he served for 10 years as a constable, sergeant and finally inspector. He left the police in 2022 to pursue a political career.

Personal Life

Hinder lives in his Pendle and Clitheroe constituency.

Trivia

Hinder is a leading member of the Blue Labour group in parliament.