Martin Rhodes is the Scottish Labour MP for Glasgow North, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Rhodes won 14,655 votes, representing 42.2% of the vote. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Alison Thewliss, received 11,116 votes (32.0%), while the Scottish Green Party candidate, Iris Duane, secured 4,233 votes (12.2%). Rhodes was duly elected with a majority of 3,539.

The Glasgow North constituency was represented by Labour’s Ann McKechin from its creation in 2005 to 2015. The SNP held the seat from 2015 to 2024.

Political Career

Rhodes is a member of the House of Commons environmental audit (since October 2024) – the commons select committee that acts as parliament’s primary cross-departmental watchdog on environmental issues. The EAC has a wide-ranging remit to examine how the policies and programmes of all government departments and public bodies impact environmental protection and sustainable development.

In February 2026, Rhodes expressed reservations about the government’s proposed overhaul of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) guidelines in a Westminster Hall debate. The session, which was triggered by two public petitions signed by over 330,000 people, focused on Home Office proposals to replace the established five-year pathway to permanent residency (also known as indefinite leave to remain or settlement) with a 10-year baseline under an “earned settlement” model.

In the debate, Rhodes argued that health and social care workers have more than earned their settlement.

He stated: “I urge the government to ensure that care workers are treated not as insignificant temporary labour, but as skilled and valuable contributors to society and the economy. Whatever changes we make to our immigration system, we must ensure that those contributions are recognised and respected.”

In December 2025, Rhodes led a Westminster hall debate on the role of Fairtrade certification in UK business and trade.

Rhodes stated: “Fairtrade shows that ethical trade can deliver; human rights and environmental due diligence would take it from optional to systemic…

“As we face a world of pressures and reductions in aid budgets, including our own, it places on us a greater and more urgent responsibility to use progressive approaches to trade and business and to promote progress on human rights, the environment and economic growth concurrently…

“With the reductions in UK official development assistance, we should be viewing ethical trade and responsible business as cost-effective ways to put our principles into practice.”

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

Rhodes is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for Fairtrade (chair) and events (chair).

Rhodes delivered his maiden speech on 30 July 2024 during a debate on the Budget Responsibility Bill.

In it, he said: “For too long, government and politics have often allowed themselves to be characterised by posturing and positioning, rather than the serious work of analysing problems, assessing solutions and delivering change.”

He added: “It is our challenge across this chamber over the course of this parliament to rebuild trust in political institutions and processes. We need to show to people out there that politics is acting in their service, and that it can make real and positive changes to their lives and communities.”

Before entering parliament, Rhodes served as a Labour councillor on Glasgow City Council (2012-2022).

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Rhodes 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.

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Rhodes was one of the over 120 Labour MPs to sign the reasoned amendment to the government’s flagship welfare bill which aimed to reject the proposed legislation.

The amendment, in the name of senior Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, objected to the fact that the bill had not been subject to a “formal consultation with disabled people” and that “250,000 people will be pushed into poverty” as a result of it, according to a government impact assessment.

The motion also called on the government to wait for the publication of the review into the Personal Independence Payment (Pip), helmed by minister Sir Stephen Timms, and the independent review, conducted by Sir Charlie Mayfield, into how the employment of disabled people could be boosted.

Welfare vote (July 2025): Rhodes 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

Rhodes 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): Rhodes 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.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Rhodes 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

Rhodes was chief executive of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum from 2010 to 2024.

Personal Life

Rhodes has lived in Glasgow since 1992.

Trivia

Rhodes was a signatory to the June 2025 welfare bill reasoned amendment.