Lola McEvoy is the Labour MP for Darlington, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, McEvoy won 16,621 votes, representing 39.2% of the vote. The Conservative incumbent, Peter Gibson, received 14,323 votes (33.8%), while the Reform UK candidate, Michael Walker, secured 6,852 votes (16.2%). McEvoy was duly elected with a majority of 2,298  

The Darlington constituency is located in County Durham, in the North East of England. The seat was held by the Conservatives from 2019 to 2024, and before that by Labour from 1992 to 2019.

McEvoy’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Darlington was Peter Gibson of the Conservative Party.

Political Career

McEvoy serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (since September 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. Although they cannot speak for the government in debates, a PPS is bound by collective responsibility and becomes part of the so-called “payroll vote”, expected to support the official line in all divisions.

In the wake of the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, McEvoy was appointed by 10 Downing Street as a “mission champion” for the North East – a role intended to cut across departmental boundaries and support Labour’s programme for “national renewal”. These “missions”, first set out in 2023 and subsequently given less prominence, included boosting economic growth, reducing NHS waiting times, tackling crime, establishing a publicly owned clean energy company and expanding educational opportunity.

In the weeks following her election to parliament, McEvoy emerged as a leading figure in the Labour Growth Group (LGG) – a vocal faction of backbenchers committed to ensuring economic growth remains the central mission of the government. The group, largely composed of MPs from the 2024 intake, positions itself as the voice of “the builders, not the blockers” and provides organised support for ministers taking on politically difficult decisions in the name of economic expansion.

In an open letter addressed to Keir Starmer, issued upon the group’s founding in July 2024, LGG MPs said it was imperative that “the government grasps the nettle and goes for growth”.

They added: “This absolutely has to start with the sweeping planning reforms to get Britain building again. Under the Tories, planning permissions for new homes hit record lows and housebuilding cratered. Indeed, not once in their 14 years in power did the Conservatives meet their housing targets.”

McEvoy was appointed as the co-chair of the LGG upon its founding.

In an article for the New Statesman in July 2025, McEvoy, alongside fellow leading LGG figures Mark McVitie and Chris Curtis, described the group’s founding principle as the belief “that decline is neither inevitable nor acceptable; Britain’s best days are ahead, but only if we choose purpose over complacency and disruption over caution.”

They called for a new “Beveridge model to rebuild Britain”, arguing that “Britain urgently requires a framework for national economic renewal as bold and transformative as Beveridge’s original vision was for welfare.”

In May 2026, McEvoy was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed a joint statement insisting it was “no time for a leadership contest.” The letter was an intervention in the political crisis engulfing Keir Starmer’s premiership, after Labour suffered heavy losses in the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru. It was organised as a counterweight to a mounting rebellion that had seen high-profile figures, including some ministers, call for Starmer’s resignation.

The statement read: “Last week we had a devastatingly tough set of election results. It shows we have a hard job ahead to win back trust from the electorate.

“That job needs to start today – with all of us working together to deliver the change the country needs.

“We must focus on that. This is no time for a leadership contest.”

McEvoy has sat as a member of the House of Commons Treasury committee (2024-2025).

McEvoy delivered her maiden speech on 23 July 2024 during a debate on immigration and home affairs).

In it, she said: “I come from a long line of people who have done better for themselves than was expected of them, and I will dedicate my time in parliament to knocking down barriers to opportunity for everyone in our town, so that no matter their postcode they can live the life they want, well.”

She added: “Representation matters, and I will use my platform to highlight the issues facing women in the town  – issues such as low‑paid work, additional care responsibilities, the childcare crisis, menopause discrimination, maternity services and poor paternity rights.

“I will also be a champion for women’s health and support services.”

McEvoy stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Penrith and The Border in the 2017 general election.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: McEvoy 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

Living Standards Coalition: McEvoy is a member of the Living Standards Coalition’s organising committee. 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.”

Upon the launch of the group, McEvoy told the Guardian: “[People are] one bill away from crisis and it’s having a massive knock-on effect to mental health…

“It’s about people’s expectations of what they thought their life would be like and. continuously grafting but can’t seem to keep their head above water.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): McEvoy 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

McEvoy 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).

In a statement issued shortly after the bill’s second reading, McEvoy said: “So many constituents have been in touch with strongly held convictions on both sides of the debate and I would like to thank them for doing so, especially those who have shared very painful personal experiences with me. I was incredibly moved by your stories.

“After a huge amount of consideration, I ultimately voted against the bill at this stage.

“While I support the intentions and my instinct is to allow people freedom of choice when facing the prospect of a painful and harrowing death, I have serious concerns about the plans for implementation that I just could not overlook.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): McEvoy 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

McEvoy attended Carmel College and Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington. Her mother worked as a teacher and her father as a nurse.

McEvoy obtained a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Newcastle University in 2010.

McEvoy went on to work as a parliamentary assistant to Jenny Chapman, the then Labour MP for Darlington.

In 2016, McEvoy joined the Living Wage Foundation, working as a senior communications and campaigns manager. She worked as a union organiser for GMB from 2019 to 2024.

Personal Life

McEvoy grew up in Darlington. She is married.

In her 2024 maiden speech, McEvoy told the House: “My parents, my brothers and my husband, all of whom have had their personal lives thrust right into my political story, not entirely through choice, but in the name of our common goal, which is a better future for our community.”

Trivia

During Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential re-election campaign, McEvoy volunteered in the swing state of Ohio.