Katrina Murray is the Labour MP for Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Murray won 18,513 votes, representing 45.2% of the vote. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Stuart McDonald, received 14,369 votes (35.1%), while the Reform UK candidate, Billy Ross, secured 3,167 votes (7.7%). Murray was duly elected with a majority of 4,144 votes.

Political Career

Murray is a member of the House of Commons Northern Ireland affairs select committee (since October 2024) – the committee responsible for scrutinising the policy, administration and spending of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and its associated public bodies.

Murray is also a member of the House of Commons procedure committee (since December 2025) – the committee responsible for considering the practice and procedure of the House in the conduct of its public business. It can make recommendations to the House about the operation of the House’s Standing Orders for public business.

Murray is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for debt and financial inclusion, new towns and the night-time economy.

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

In it, she said: “Like most of us, I have spent more time than is healthy considering the basis of my politics and values…

“I immediately thought of my grandmother… The oldest daughter of the dairyman, she was bright; she passed her 11-plus and was entitled to a place at the grammar school. But in the 1920s, dairymen’s daughters did not go to grammar schools, certainly not if they were the eldest and they had six younger siblings.

“She never forgot that, and among her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren there was an expectation that we would take all the educational chances open to us, and fight for them when they were not obvious.”

She added: “For the whole of my working life, I have worked in partnerships and tried to build alliances between workers, and between communities… It is in a spirit of partnership and alliance that I will work to strengthen the bonds that bind our people together…

“Let us focus not on difference, but on areas of agreement, because we cross paths far more often than we cross swords.”

Murray previously stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Dundee East in the 2010 general election.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Murray was one of 117 Labour MPs who nominated Lucy Powell 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.

Powell, the former leader of the House of Commons, was seen as a candidate representing the party’s “soft left”; she was supported by leading soft left figures including Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham. She secured 117 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), above the 80 required, and went on to win the election – defeating Bridget Phillipson with 54.3% of the vote.

Factional identity and party tradition

Trade Union Group: Murray is a member of the Trade Union Group of Labour MPs executive. This long-standing group, founded in 1926, serves as a link between the Labour party and the trade union movement, aiming to ensure that the voices of working people and their unions are represented in parliament.

Living Standards Coalition: Murray is a member of the Living Standards Coalition. Established in July 2025, the group’s stated aim was to develop and promote policy ideas that directly reduce everyday costs for households, particularly in areas such as food, energy, housing and childcare. In an open letter published upon its founding, addressed to Keir Starmer, the MPs wrote: “Our constituents will ask one question at the next election: did this Labour government make me better off?”

They added: “To raise living standards, we support government interventions that will help to increase incomes and lower costs.

SERA: Murray 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”.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Murray 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.

Murray had described the original bill as likely to push communities into “deeper poverty”.

In a statement, issued in April 2025, Murray said she had “deep worries about how these changes will affect children, disabled people, and the most vulnerable members of our community”.

She added: “I, along with several of my colleagues, believe that in its current form, the green paper could lead to far-reaching consequences that harm many people in our constituency.

“If implemented as currently proposed, it is likely that a large number of our community members will be pushed into deeper poverty, rather than being empowered to improve their circumstances.”

Assisted dying

Murray voted against 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): Murray supported 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

Murray studied health and social care at the Open University and later obtained a master’s degree in human resources from Glasgow Caledonian University.

Murray worked as a voluntary services manager for 22 years (2001-2023) at NHS Lanarkshire. She was a Unison branch secretary from 2023 to 2024.

Personal Life

Murray lives in her Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch constituency.

Trivia

Murray previously contested the Dundee East constituency for Labour in the 2010 general election.