Kirsty McNeill is the Labour and Co-operative Party MP for Midlothian, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, McNeill won 21,480 votes, representing 48.6% of the vote. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Owen Thompson, received 13,313 votes (30.1%), while the Reform UK candidate, Stefan Garbowski, secured 3,276 votes (7.4%). McNeill was duly elected with a majority of 8,167 votes.  

The Midlothian constituency was historically a safe Labour seat, having been held by the party from its creation in 1955 to 2015. The SNP held the seat from 2015 to 2017 and 2019 to 2024.

McNeill’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Midlothian was Owen Thompson of the SNP.

Political Career

McNeill currently serves as minister of state in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. She was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

McNeill served as parliamentary under-secretary of state for Scotland from July 2024 to July 2026.

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

McNeill delivered her maiden speech on 18 July 2024 during a debate on foreign affairs and defence.

In it, she said: “We are all of us products of the investments made in us as children. It is to Midlothian’s children and young people that I want to make my most solemn undertakings.

“If you have disabilities or additional needs, you are among my most precious constituents. If you are care-experienced, you will always have a friend and champion in me. If you find that your life chances are diminished by poverty or discrimination, then it is by my contribution to helping you realise your limitless potential that I wish my time as your MP to be judged.”

Before entering parliament, McNeill served as a Labour councillor on Southwark Council (2006-2010).

McNeill previously stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for North Southwark and Bermondsey in the 2005 general election.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: McNeill 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: McNeill 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): McNeill 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

McNeill 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): McNeill 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

McNeill studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Balliol College, University of Oxford, graduating in 2000. During her time at university, she was president of the Oxford University Student Union.  

McNeill worked as a special adviser in 10 Downing Street to prime minister Gordon Brown between 2007 and 2011. She went on to serve as strategy director of the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown.

McNeill worked at Save the Children for several years, including as campaigns director (2015-2016) and executive director of policy, advocacy and campaigns (2016-2024).

She has also chaired IPPR, the Civic Power Fund, Larger Us and the advisory board of Our Scottish Future.

She is a former board member of The Center for Countering Digital Hate, The Labour Climate and Environment Forum, The Climate Coalition, The Holocaust Educational Trust and The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

Personal Life

McNeill grew up in a family of SNP activists.

Trivia

While president of the Oxford University Student Union in 2001, McNeill successfully campaigned to prevent Holocaust denier David Irving from speaking to the Oxford Union debating society.

At the time, she commented: “I hope the Oxford Union learns its lesson and takes into account the feelings of its members in future. It has a great history and I hope it can put this episode behind it.”