Michael Payne is the Labour MP for Gedling, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Payne won 23,278 votes, representing 47.8% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Tom Randall, received 11,397 votes (23.4%), while the Reform UK candidate, Simon Christy, secured 8,211 votes (16.9%). Payne was duly elected with a majority of 11,881.

The Gedling constituency is located in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region. Historically a marginal seat, the Conservative Party held the seat from 1983 to 1997 and again from 2019 to 2024. The Labour Party represented the constituency from 1997 to 2019.

Political Career

Payne serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Home Office (since May 2026). 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.

Payne’s appointment to this PPS role was part of a targeted reshuffle designed to stabilise Keir Starmer’s position as prime minister after a series of resignations. At least four PPSs stepped down calling for Starmer to resign or set out a timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

As such, Payne was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed a joint statement insisting it was “no time for a leadership contest” in May 2026.

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.”

Payne was retained as a Home Office PPS following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

In June 2025, Payne was one of 16 Labour MPs to sign a letter to the foreign secretary, David Lammy, accusing the government of failing to protect the rights of LGBT+ citizens in the British Overseas Territories. The group argued that the absence of legal protections in jurisdictions such as the Turks and Caicos, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Montserrat constituted a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

According to a PoliticsHome report, the letter described the government’s “inaction on these injustices is not only a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights but, more importantly, a betrayal of the values Britain has long championed on the world stage.”

It added: “By failing to prevent differential treatment of LGBT+ persons in these jurisdictions, which naturally includes British citizens, the UK has allowed a two-tier system of British LGBT+ rights to emerge, in which the promise of equality and dignity extends only to some, not all, of its citizens and territories.”

Payne has sat as a member of the House of Commons public accounts committee (2024-2026).

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

Payne is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for HIV, AIDS and sexual health (co-chair), motor neurone disease, dementia in sport and Haiti (chair).

Payne delivered his maiden speech on 19 November 2024 during a debate on the Infected Blood Inquiry.

In it, he said: “My politics and beliefs are important to me, but, like millions of other people across this country, nothing is more important to me than my family. It is for that reason that making this maiden speech has not been easy.

“There are two people I desperately wish were watching from the Public Gallery today: John Herbert Waplington and Joan Edna Waplington – my grandad and my nana. Their love and compassion, and the values that they and my parents taught me, are the reason I am who I am today.”

He added: “We live in a world where far too many people continue to be persecuted for who they are and who they love. For as long as I am in this place, I will use this platform to speak up for them and their rights.

“As our much-missed and beautiful friend Jo Cox taught us, whatever our differences, we always have so much more in common than that which divides us.”

Payne previously stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate in the 2014 Newark by-election. Payne placed third behind the UK Independence Party (Ukip) candidate and the Conservative candidate, Robert Jenrick.

Before entering parliament, Payne accumulated extensive experience in local government. He was first elected as a Labour councillor on Gedling Borough Council in May 2011 and stood down in 2024. For a period, he served as deputy leader of the council.

Payne has also served as a county councillor on Nottingham County Council (2013-2025).

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Payne 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.

Payne co-wrote an article endorsing Phillipson alongside colleagues Michael Wheeler, Antonia Bance, Jo White, Steve Race, Michelle Welsh, Tim Roca and Sureena Brackenridge.

The LabourList article stated: “Bridget is the right choice to be Labour’s next deputy leader. She embodies the best of our movement: authenticity, hard work, and a deep sense of service.

“From growing up in a single-parent family in Sunderland to serving as MP for Houghton and Sunderland South – a marginal constituency she has defended and won against the odds – Bridget has always fought and always won.”

It added: “Bridget brings the same strength. She delivers. She inspires. She wins. She will unite our party to take the fight to Reform. That’s why we’re backing her to be the next deputy leader of the Labour Party.”

Factional identity and party tradition

Red Wall Caucus: Payne is a member of the Labour Red Wall Caucus, a parliamentary pressure group of Labour MPs representing constituencies in the Midlands and Northern England. Formed in November 2024 and led by Bassetlaw MP Jo White, the caucus serves as a voice for the so-called “red wall” seats that returned to Labour en masse at the 2024 general election.

In May 2025, following a series of disappointing local election results for the Labour Party, the caucus issued a statement calling for a shift in government strategy. The group argued that Keir Starmer’s “plan for change” messaging had “fallen on deaf ears”, inviting ministers to “visit our areas, listen and rebuild the social contract between government and the people.”

The statement added: “The demands raised by new MPs from post-industrial towns where infrastructure is poor with years of underinvestment must be taken off the too-difficult-to-do list.

“Breakaway from Treasury orthodoxy otherwise we will never get the investment we desperately need. The government needs to it improve messaging by telling our story and articulating our values in the language that resonates and is heard.”

In a subsequent letter to Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, on 27 August 2025, the MPs said they were elected “with commitments to destroy the criminal smuggling gang networks, ensure that our border is secure… and to quickly remove those who have no entitlement to be here.”

They went on to critique Farage’s deportations plan.

The MPs added: “We believe that migrants who pose a threat to public safety should be tagged, and that we should expand right-to-work checks to crack down on illegal working. We believe sex offenders should never get asylum in the UK. We believe that the criminal people smuggling gangs should be treated like terrorists.”

Usdaw: Payne is a member of the Usdaw Union Parliamentary Group – a group of MPs who are members of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) and work generally to represent the union’s interests within parliament.

Electoral reform

Fair elections APPG: Payne has been listed as a supporter of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Payne voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Payne 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

Payne 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).

Before Politics

Michael Richard Payne studied law at Lancaster University, graduating in 2008. He was the first person in his family to go to university.

Payne was an East Midlands regional organiser for the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign during the 2011 alternative vote (AV) referendum.

Payne was deputy leader of the Local Government Association Labour group from 2017 to 2024.

Personal Life

Payne is openly gay.

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

In his 2024 maiden speech, Payne told the House: “Being elected to serve my home town in this place was the second greatest moment of my life. The first was marrying my husband, Kyle Robinson-Payne, on 1 July 2022.”

Trivia

Payne was appointed as a PPS during the May 2026 government crisis.