Joshua Reynolds is the Liberal Democrat MP for Maidenhead, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Reynolds won 21,895 votes, representing 43.5% of the vote. The Conservative Party candidate, Tania Mathias, received 18,932 votes (37.6%), while the Labour Party candidate, Jo Smith, secured 5,766 votes (11.5%). Reynolds was duly elected with a majority of 2,963.

The Maidenhead constituency is located in Berkshire, South East England. The constituency was represented by Theresa May of the Conservative Party from its creation in 1997 to 2024. The former prime minister stood down from parliament at the 2024 general election.

Reynolds overturned a 18,846-vote Conservative majority to secure victory in 2024.

Political Career

Reynolds currently serves on the Liberal Democrat frontbench as investment and trade spokesperson. He was appointed to this role in September 2025.

Reynolds is also a member of the House of Commons business and trade select committee (since October 2024). The committee scrutinises the work of the Department for Business and Trade.

Joshua Reynolds delivered his maiden speech on 30 July 2024 during the Budget Responsibility Bill.

In it, he said: “A significant number of residents in my community live in poverty, and homelessness is on the rise along with reliance on food banks.

“Our local baby bank, founded by local residents Rebecca and Councillor Amy Tisi, is seeing increased demand for its services. We must take action on fuel poverty, extending free school meals and restoring the basic standard of living that vulnerable residents need the most.”

He added: “Maidenhead is a beautiful constituency, but if we are not careful its waterways, from Binfield cut in the south to the Thames in the north, will become open sewers.

“I have pledged to residents in Cookham, Hurley, the Walthams, Bray, Binfield, Warfield, Winkfield and North Ascot that I will fight tirelessly to clean up their rivers.”

Before entering parliament, Reynolds was elected as a councillor on Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council in May 2019. He remained a councillor following his election to parliament.

Reynolds previously stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Maidenhead in the 2019 general election.

Political views

The Liberal Democrats (or Lib Dems) are a liberal political party, occupying the centre to centre-left ground in British politics.

The preamble to the Lib Dem constitution begins: “The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.”

The Liberal Democrat autumn conference in 2021 ratified a policy paper entitled What Liberal Democrats Believe. The paper, an attempt to expand on the constitution’s preamble, was framed around seven “principles and values”.

The party’s core values were described as “liberty, equality, democracy, community, internationalism and environmentalism.”

Brexit and Europe

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Reynolds voted in favour of the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the 10-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union. In total, 13 Labour MPs joined the Liberal Democrats in supporting the motion, while the majority of the party abstained.

Assisted dying

Reynolds 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): Reynolds 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

Joshua Peter Reynolds was born in Maidenhead, England, on 13 January 1999. He attended Furze Platt Senior school.

His first job, aged 16, was working at Marks & Spencer on Maidenhead High Street.

He studied business and management at Cardiff Metropolitan University. His dissertation focused on the future of the High Street and what the High Street needs to do to survive.

He worked as a manager for the Co-operative Group.

Personal Life

Reynolds lives in his Maidenhead constituency.

He is married.

Trivia

Reynolds was 25-years-old upon his election to parliament in 2024, making him the youngest Liberal Democrat MP in the House of Commons.

Reynolds shares his name with the renowned 18th-century portrait painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, a connection he acknowledged in his maiden speech.

He quipped: “Unlike my namesake, Sir Joshua Reynolds, I cannot paint to save my life”.