Martin McCluskey is the Labour MP for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, McCluskey won 18,931 votes, representing 46.9% of the vote. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Ronnie Cowan, received 12,560 votes (31.1%), while the Conservative candidate, Ted Runciman, secured 2,863 votes (7.1%). McCluskey was duly elected with a majority of 6,371.  

The Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West constituency, newly created for the 2024 election, is located in the west of Scotland. It was formed primarily from the former Inverclyde constituency (held by the SNP since 2015) and parts of the Renfrewshire North and West constituency.  

Political Career

McCluskey was appointed to the post of parliamentary under-secretary of state for energy consumers in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in the September 2025 ministerial reshuffle.

Previously, McCluskey served as an assistant government whip (2024-2025).

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

McCluskey delivered his maiden speech on 18 July 2024 during a debate on foreign affairs and defence.

In it, he said: “My grandmother was born in 1914, and in the early 1930s she made her first trip to London to enter domestic service for the man who then owned Tottenham Hotspur football club. She sent the money she made back home to help her mother raise 12 children in a two-room flat on Rue End Street in Greenock.

“Within two generations, her grandson has found his own way to London to sit in the House of Commons.”

He added: “GB Energy and the government’s plans for a national wealth fund are as important for reducing our dependence on foreign energy reserves as they are for providing opportunities here at home.

“Investing in the jobs of the future must go hand in hand with ensuring people’s rights at work. The new deal for working people will provide the certainty of well-paid work, underpinned by strong rights and protections.”

Before entering parliament, McCluskey was elected as a Labour councillor on Inverclyde Council in May 2022. He stood down from this role in September 2024.

McCluskey was chair of the Fabian Society’s Scotland executive committee from 2018 to 2024.

In a 2015 article for LabourList, McCluskey argued that “Labour under Jeremy Corbyn is the only party that aspires to truly unite our country – from the north of Scotland to the south of England.”

He added: “It’s time for Labour to remember what it stands for, reflect the outrage that people still feel about the way politics used to be done and be a voice for working people the length and breadth of our country.”

McCluskey stood for parliament unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Inverclyde at the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: McCluskey 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.

Brexit and Europe

Remain pledge: During the 2019 general election campaign, McCluskey was one of 193 Labour candidates to sign the anti-Brexit “Remain pledge”, drawn up by the campaign group Remain Labour.

It stated: “Labour is committed to a confirmatory referendum, to give you the final say on Brexit. If elected as your Labour MP, I pledge to campaign to Remain in the EU.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): McCluskey 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

McCluskey 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 after the bill’s third reading, McCluskey said: “Since the bill was first introduced last November, I have been concerned about the lack of safeguards, which have been further watered down over the last seven months. I remain concerned and hope that many of these safeguards will be considered again in the House of Lords.”

He added: “I am disappointed by the lack of scrutiny of several important amendments during this process, and that some suggestions for protections had been rejected by the bill’s sponsor.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): McCluskey 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

Born in Greenock, McCluskey was educated at St Patrick’s Primary School in Greenock and St Aloysius’ College, a private Jesuit school in Glasgow.

He studied politics, philosophy and economics (PPE) at the University of Oxford, graduating in 2007. During his time at university, McCluskey was president of the Oxford Student Union (2007-2008).

McCluskey was an adviser to the chair and chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission from 2008 to 2020.

He has held several roles in the Labour Party. He was political director for Labour in Scotland from 2016 to 2017, having previously served as a political adviser to the shadow secretary of state for Scotland.

McCluskey also worked for VSO UK, an international development charity, where he led on policy and advocacy campaigns and UK government relations.

Personal Life

McCluskey lives in Gourock, Inverclyde, with his husband. They were married in November 2024.

In 2024, PinkNews listed McCluskey among a number of out LGBTQ+ parliamentarians.

He was Inverclyde Council’s first openly gay councillor.

His mother worked as a nurse and midwife at Inverclyde Royal Hospital. His father and uncle ran youth clubs in Renfrewshire. His grandfather was a union treasurer at Scott’s shipyard.

Trivia

McCluskey spent six months in Ghana working with a charity when he was 17 years old.