Katie White is the Labour MP for Leeds North West, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, White won 22,882 votes, representing 46.0% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Thomas Averre, received 10,986 votes (22.1%), while the Reform UK candidate, Jayne Louise Bond, secured 5,935 votes (11.9%). White was duly elected with a majority of 11,896.

The Leeds North West constituency, newly created ahead of the 2024 general election, is located in West Yorkshire.

Political Career

White currently serves as minister of state in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. She was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

White served as parliamentary under-secretary of state for climate in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero from September 2025 to July 2026.

White previously served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (2024-2025). 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.

White delivered her maiden speech on 23 October 2024 during a debate on the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme.

In it, she said: “I am proud to be the first woman ever to represent Leeds North West, the place where I was born and raised, as were my parents before me. Seeing more women elected to parliament than ever before matters. It matters to the women and girls across our communities – to Alice in Otley, Navdeeb in Adel and Chloe in Horsforth.”

She added: “My journey began with the climate crisis. We know that if we get it wrong, we face disaster – particularly for the most vulnerable among us – but if we get it right, we unlock enormous opportunities for our society.

“In 2003, I joined the local Leeds branch of Friends of the Earth and launched a campaign for the UK’s first climate change bill. Everyone told me that it was impossible; that it was too ambitious and too radical. There was no way that the Treasury would ever allow a carbon budget – but, friends, they did.

“We turned that campaign into the fourth most supported campaign in parliament’s history, with cross-party backing from members across the House.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: White 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

SERA: White has been listed as a member of the Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA) – a socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. Founded in 1973, SERA is the party’s official environmental campaign group. The organisation campaigns on a wide range of issues, including renewable energy, biodiversity, air quality and the transition to a green economy. SERA describes its member MPs as “champions for the environment”.

Labour Movement for Europe: White was endorsed by the Labour Movement for Europe (LME) in the 2024 general election. Founded in 1981, LME is a pro-European socialist society affiliated with the Labour Party. It campaigns for a close relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The organisation refers to itself as the “home of the pro-Europeans in the Labour and trade union movement”.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): White 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

White voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): White 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

Katie Jayne White was born in Adel, Leeds, in the early 1980s. She attended Leeds Girls’ High School.

White studied politics at the University of Glasgow, obtaining a master’s degree in the subject in 2003.

White’s career before entering frontline politics centred on environmental campaigning and policy. She was a climate change campaigner at the Friends of the Earth from 2004 to 2008 and worked at the Department of Energy and Climate Change from 2009 to 2012, including a head of international climate change engagement.

In 2009, White was involved in preparations for the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15).

White later served as European campaigns director for the anti-poverty organisation ONE.org (2012-2014).

White was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to tackling climate change.

From 2019 to 2024, White was director for campaigns and advocacy at WWF.

Personal Life

White is married. Her husband, Sam White, served as chief of staff to the leader of the opposition (Keir Starmer) from 2021 to 2022.

Trivia

White co-led the campaign at Friends of the Earth for the UK’s landmark Climate Change Act 2008.

She is the first woman to represent Leeds North West in parliament.