Josh MacAlister is the Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, MacAlister won 22,173 votes, representing 53.0% of the vote. The Reform UK candidate, David Surtees, received 8,887 votes (21.2%), while the Conservative candidate, Andrew Johnson, secured 8,455 votes (20.2%). MacAlister was duly elected with a majority of 13,286 votes.

The Whitehaven and Workington constituency, newly created ahead of the 2024 election, is located in West Cumbria in the North West of England. It was formed from parts of the former Copeland and Workington constituencies.

Political Career

MacAlister was appointed to the post of parliamentary under-secretary of state for children and families in the Department for Education in the September 2025 ministerial reshuffle.

Previously, MacAlister served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Cabinet Office (2025).

In October 2024, MacAlister introduced a private members’ bill (PMB) to address what he termed “a fundamental rewiring of childhood itself” and strengthen protections for children online. MacAlister introduced the proposed legislation after placing fifth in the PMB ballot at the start of parliamentary session in 2024.

The Protection of Children (Digital Safety and Data Protection) Bill would have placed a legal duty on the UK chief medical officers to publish advice for parents and carers on the use of smart phones and social media by children. It would also have compelled ministers to state within a year whether they planned to raise the age at which children can consent for their data to be shared without parental permission.

Speaking during the bill’s second reading debate in March 2025, MacAlister argued that excessive screen time had triggered a “crisis” in adolescent mental health.

He told the House: “Children are spending less time outside and less time reading, exercising, exploring, meeting people and communicating in person – all the things that make childhood special and are necessary for healthy childhood development.

“Instead, many of our children now spend their time captured by addictive social media and smartphone use – often sat alone, doomscrolling.”

He added: “This rewiring of childhood has only one winner: the balance sheets of social media companies. Their business model, the very essence of their business, is built around monetising attention.

“As their understanding of our consumer habits and technology improves, the encroachment on childhood is set to get worse and worse.”

MacAlister has sat as a member of the House of Commons energy security and net zero select committee (2024-2025).

MacAlister is a patron of LGBT+ Labour – a socialist society formally affiliated with the Labour Party.

MacAlister delivered his maiden speech on 22 July 2024 during a debate on the economy, welfare and public services.

In it, he said: “The disadvantage faced by the care-experienced community in our country should be the civil rights issue of our time.

“Evidence of that disadvantage is found in worse education outcomes, worse health outcomes and shorter lives, but that disadvantage is fuelled by something that politicians often find too hard to discuss, and that MPs certainly find too hard to mention in this chamber: the absence of love.

“I believe every child has the right to be loved, and we have the ability to build a care system that can provide that for them.”

He added: “A Labour government with a proper industrial strategy and the right targeted investment could completely transform the economic geography of my community.”

“I am determined to play my part to deliver this Labour government’s mission and to ensure that west Cumbria feels the maximum possible benefit of the change we want to bring about for our country.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: MacAlister 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: MacAlister 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.”

Red Wall Caucus: MacAlister is a member of the Labour Red Wall Caucus, a parliamentary pressure group of Labour MPs representing constituencies in the Midlands and Northern England. Formed in November 2024 and led by Bassetlaw MP Jo White, the caucus serves as a voice for the so-called “red wall” seats that returned to Labour en masse at the 2024 general election.

In May 2025, following a series of disappointing local election results for the Labour Party, the caucus issued a statement calling for a shift in government strategy. The group argued that Keir Starmer’s “plan for change” messaging had “fallen on deaf ears”, inviting ministers to “visit our areas, listen and rebuild the social contract between government and the people.”

The statement added: “The demands raised by new MPs from post-industrial towns where infrastructure is poor with years of underinvestment must be taken off the too-difficult-to-do list.

“Breakaway from Treasury orthodoxy otherwise we will never get the investment we desperately need. The government needs to it improve messaging by telling our story and articulating our values in the language that resonates and is heard.”

In a subsequent letter to Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, on 27 August 2025, the MPs said they were elected “with commitments to destroy the criminal smuggling gang networks, ensure that our border is secure… and to quickly remove those who have no entitlement to be here.”

They went on to critique Farage’s deportations plan.

The MPs added: “We believe that migrants who pose a threat to public safety should be tagged, and that we should expand right-to-work checks to crack down on illegal working. We believe sex offenders should never get asylum in the UK. We believe that the criminal people smuggling gangs should be treated like terrorists.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): MacAlister 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

MacAlister 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): MacAlister 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 1987, MacAlister’s father worked as a social worker.

MacAlister studied politics and social policy at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 2009. He served as president of the Edinburgh University student union.

MacAlister then obtained a master’s degree in education from the University of Manchester in 2012.

MacAlister trained as a teacher through the Teach First programme, starting work in a school in Oldham in 2009. He was an associate fellow at IPPR from 2012 to 2013, leading a project on children’s social work reform.

MacAlister founded Frontline in 2013, a charity modelled on Teach First. He led Frontline as chief executive for eight years from 2013 to 2012.

In 2021, MacAlister was appointed by the government to chair the independent review of children’s social care in England. The review’s final report, published in May 2022, argued the current children’s social care system was “increasingly skewed to crisis intervention, with outcomes for children that continue to be unacceptably poor and costs that continue to rise.”

The review called for a “radical reset”.

Following the review, MacAlister served as executive chair of Foundations (2022-2024).

MacAlister was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to vulnerable children.  

Personal Life

MacAlister is married to Matthew Hood, an educationalist.

In 2024, PinkNews listed MacAlister among a number of out LGBTQ+ parliamentarians.

Trivia

MacAlister has worked as a mountain rescue volunteer.