Kenneth Stevenson is the Labour MP for Airdrie and Shotts, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Stevenson won 18,871 votes, representing 51.5% of the vote. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Anum Qaisar, received 11,324 votes (30.9%), while the Reform UK candidate, David Hall, secured 2,971 votes (8.1%). Stevenson was duly elected with a majority of 7,547.

The Airdrie and Shotts constituency is located in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The seat was held by the SNP from 2015 to 2024, and before that by Labour from 1997 to 2015.

Political Career

Stevenson is 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.

Stevenson delivered his maiden speech on 21 October 2024 during a debate on the Employment Rights Bill.

In it, he said: “As we chapped doors across the constituency for over a year, our key commitment was to deliver an upgrade to workers’ rights the like of which has not been seen for a generation…

“Today’s debate on the Employment Rights Bill is a critical step towards delivering a long-overdue new deal for working people, and it will be the working people of Airdrie and Shotts who I have in mind throughout my time in this parliament.”

He added: “I completed my apprenticeship at a modern manufacturing facility in Shotts that was sadly closed during the times of rapid deindustrialisation. It was there that I learned my trade as an engineer and grew as a person. The advice of ex-miners, steel workers and foundry workers was invaluable.

“I hope that legislation such as the bill we are debating today will reignite the industrial and technological potential that exists within these communities.”

Before entering politics, Stevenson was elected as a Labour councillor on North Lanarkshire Council in 2017. He stood down from the council in 2024.

Stevenson previously stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate in the 2021 Airdrie and Shotts by-election. He placed second, securing 8,372 votes (38.4%).

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Stevenson was one of 24 Labour MPs who nominated Bell Ribeiro-Addy 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.

Ribeiro-Addy, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG), was seen as the candidate on the left of the party. She secured only 24 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), far short of the 80 required under rules introduced in 2021.

Electoral reform

Fair elections APPG: Stevenson 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.

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Stevenson voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Stevenson 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

Stevenson 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).

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Stevenson was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

Stevenson was born in the 1960s and grew up in Shotts, North Lanarkshire. He attended Calderhead High School and later obtained a degree from the Open University.

Stevenson’s career before entering frontline politics centred on engineering roles. He worked as an engineer for companies including BAE Systems, Hyster, and Terex.

Stevenson went on to become an engineering lecturer, initially at Anniesland College.

Personal Life

Stevenson lives in his Airdrie and Shotts constituency. He is married.

In his 2024 maiden speech, Stevenson told the House: “I hope that my dad, Howard, will be pleased as he watches at home, and that he knows that it is the value of hard work that he and my mum, Millie, instilled in me – along with the assistance of many others, including my wife, Julie, who is watching here today – that has brought me to this place.”

Trivia

Stevenson supported Bell Ribeiro-Addy in the 2025 Labour deputy leadership contest.