Matthew Pennycook is the Labour MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, having first been elected to parliament at the 2015 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Pennycook received 23,999 votes, representing 56.2% of the vote share. The Green Party candidate, Stacy Smith, received 5,633 votes (13.2%), while the Conservative candidate, Jonathan Goff, secured 4,863 votes (11.4%). Pennycook was duly re-elected with a majority of 18,366 votes.

The Greenwich and Woolwich constituency is located in South East London, on the south bank of the River Thames within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It covers areas including Greenwich town centre, Woolwich, Charlton and the Greenwich Peninsula (location of the O2 Arena). It contains Greenwich Park, home to the Royal Observatory.

The seat was created in 1997 and has been held by Labour continuously since then, previously represented by Nick Raynsford from 1997 to 2015. It is considered a safe Labour seat.

Political Career

Pennycook currently serves as minister of state for housing and planning (since July 2024). He was retained in this role following the July 2026 cabinet reshuffle conducted by Andy Burnham upon his appointment as prime minister.

Burnham also promoted Pennycook in the ministerial hierarchy, enabling him to attend cabinet.

Prior to the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, Pennycook served as shadow minister for housing and planning from December 2021 until the 2024 election. Prior to that, he was shadow minister for climate change (April 2020 – December 2021).

Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Pennycook served as shadow minister for exiting the European union from October 2016 until September 2019. His appointment to this post came a mere 18 months after his election to parliament. Pennycook resigned from this position to campaign more actively for a second EU referendum and for the UK to remain in the EU.  

In his resignation letter, addressed to Corbyn, Pennycook wrote: “It is with sadness that I write to tender my resignation as shadow minister for exiting the European Union. It has been my privilege to have been a member of your frontbench since October 2016 and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve our party as a Shadow Minister…

“Having spoken to well over 1,000 members during that process, I am in no doubt whatsoever that the vast majority want desperately to secure another referendum and for me to once again lead the local campaign for the UK to stay in the EU.”

He added: “I am pleased that our conference this week formally confirmed our commitment to seek another referendum and to legislate immediately for one should we form a government. I now want the opportunity to focus my efforts on campaigning vigorously for that public vote and unequivocally for the UK to stay in the EU when it is secured.”

Pennycook served as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the shadow minister of state for housing, John Healey, from July 2015 to June 2016. He was among those to resign from the shadow frontbench in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and his approach to the EU referendum.

In his resignation letter, Pennycook argued that in the “turbulent and uncertain months and years ahead, it is our duty to provide a united, strong and inspiring opposition, not least to ensure that the interests of the people who desperately need a Labour government are championed in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.”

He added: “The task ahead will require compelling leadership that can command the support of both our members and the Parliamentary Labour Party.

“Sadly, and despite my respect for you as an individual, I no longer believe that you can provide that leadership. I therefore urge you to step aside now for the good of our movement and, more importantly, our county.”

Pennycook was a member of the House of Commons committee on the future relationship with the European Union (2020-2020) and the energy and climate change committee (2015-2016).

Pennycook delivered his maiden speech on 4 June 2015 during a debate on the economy.

In it, he said: “Greenwich and Woolwich has an extremely rich history, as the millions of tourists who visit my constituency each year discover…

“Yet as imperceptibly bound to its maritime and monarchical past as my constituency is, it has another proud history – one that is far too often overlooked, but which is just as inspiring.

“It is a history of industry, innovation, progressive social change and self-organisation, and above all of people who have come from every part of these islands and beyond living together and looking out for one another in diverse and tolerant communities.”

He added: “My constituency is now undergoing rapid change. Much of that change is extremely positive, but significant challenges remain, and not just how we get Charlton Athletic back into the premiership.

“Inequality, deprivation, poverty, endemic low pay, long-term and youth unemployment, strained public transport services and a chronic lack of genuinely affordable homes to rent or buy.”

Before entering parliament, Pennycook served as a Labour councillor for the Greenwich West ward on Greenwich Borough Council from 2010 to 2015.  

Political Views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Pennycook 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.

Labour leadership 2020: Pennycook was one of 82 Labour MPs who nominated Keir Starmer for the party’s leadership in early 2020. The election was triggered by the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn following the party’s defeat in the 2019 general election, which resulted in Labour’s fewest seats in the House of Commons since 1935.

Starmer’s 82 nominations were the highest of any candidate. The shadow Brexit secretary won a decisive victory in the first round with 56.2% of the vote, defeating Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy.

Labour leadership 2015: Pennycook nominated Yvette Cooper for the party’s leadership in June 2015. The election followed the resignation of Ed Miliband after the party’s defeat in the 2015 general election. It was the first contest held under the “one member, one vote” system, which replaced the previous electoral college.

Cooper, the shadow home secretary, secured 59 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 35 required to reach the final ballot. She ultimately finished third in the contest with 17% of the vote.

Corbyn loyalty list: In March 2016, Pennycook was labelled as “neutral but not hostile” by the Corbyn leadership in a leaked list which categorised Labour MPs by their perceived loyalty.

Labour leadership 2016: Pennycook was one of 162 Labour MPs who nominated Owen Smith for the party’s leadership in July 2016. The election was triggered by a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn following the EU referendum, which led to a wave of shadow cabinet resignations and a vote of no confidence supported by 172 MPs. Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary, was ultimately defeated by Corbyn, who won with an increased mandate of 61.8% of the vote.

Factional identity and party tradition

Tribune group (2017): Pennycook was listed among the supporters of the Tribune parliamentary group – a caucus generally described as representing the party’s “soft left”.

The Tribune group was initially formed in 1964 to support the newspaper of the same name. It served as a prominent forum for those parliamentarians situated on the left of the Labour Party – but it split over Tony Benn’s campaign for the deputy leadership in 1981. Benn’s supporters founded the Campaign group – which evolved into the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG). Today, the Bennite SCG is strongly associated with the Labour left tradition.

During the 1980s, the Tribune group emerged as a more natural home for those on Labour’s “soft left”.

In 2017, Efford officially re-launched the group with a new mission statement calling for “opportunity and aspiration” to be placed at the heart of the party’s programme. Efford said he had reformed the group to ensure that the centre-left of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) “have a space in which to put forward ideas and debate which has not been there under successive leaders”.

He added: “The view of Labour MPs at the moment tends to be that too much are just Blairites who want to stab Jeremy Corbyn in the back. We want to show that is not where we are, and that we want to develop our own ideas that represent the centre-left of the party.”

SERA: Pennycook 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”.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Pennycook supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore agreed with a majority of his constituents, 64.3% of whom also voted to Remain.

Article 50: In February 2017, Pennycook voted in favour of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The legislation empowered the prime minister to notify the Council of the European Union of the UK’s intention to withdraw, formally triggering the process set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. MPs supported the bill by 498 votes to 114 at second reading.

Remain pledge: During the 2019 general election campaign, Pennycook 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): Pennycook 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

Pennycook 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): Pennycook 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.

Foreign policy and security

Trident renewal (2016): Pennycook voted in favour of a government motion calling for the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent system in July 2016. The motion, which was passed by 472 votes to 117, committed the UK to constructing a new fleet of submarines to carry the nation’s nuclear weapons. Labour was split over the issue with 140 of its 230 MPs going against leader Jeremy Corbyn and backing the motion.

Syria airstrikes (2015): Pennycook voted against a government motion to extend UK airstrikes against Isis from Iraq into Syria in December 2015. The motion, which was passed by 397 votes to 223 after a ten-hour debate in the House of Commons, authorised the RAF to conduct strikes against Isis targets in Syria.

Before Politics

Born Matthew Thomas Pennycook in Hammersmith, London on 29 October 1982, he grew up in south London in a single-parent family. He attended Beverley boys secondary school, a comprehensive school in New Malden.

A PoliticsHome profile, published in 2017, stated that growing up in a “single-parent family during the 1980s ignited in Matthew Pennycook a passion for social justice.”

Pennycook studied history and international relations at the London school of Economics (LSE), graduating with first-class honours in 2005 and winning the CS MacTaggart scholarship prize for best overall degree performance in any subject. He then obtained a master of philosophy degree in international relations from Balliol college, Oxford.

Before becoming an MP, he worked for several charities and think tanks focused on social justice issues. He worked for the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), the Resolution Foundation, leading work on welfare reform, low pay and working poverty, and the Fair Pay Network.

Pennycook also worked briefly as a parliamentary assistant to Labour MP Karen Buck.

Personal Life

Pennycook is married to civil servant Joanna Otterburn. They have two children.  

Trivia

Pennycook joined the Labour Party at the age of 19.