Rebecca Long-Bailey is the Labour MP for Salford, first elected to parliament at the 2015 general election for the predecessor seat of Salford and Eccles.

In the 2024 general election, Long-Bailey received 21,132 votes, representing 53.2% of the vote share. The Reform UK candidate, Keith Whalley, received 6,031 votes (15.2%), while the Green Party candidate, Wendy Olsen, secured 5,188 votes (13.1%). Long-Bailey was duly elected with a majority of 15,101 votes.

Salford is a new constituency created for the 2024 general election, formed primarily from the abolished Salford and Eccles constituency. It is located in Greater Manchester and covers the central part of the City of Salford. It includes areas such as Salford Quays, home to MediaCityUK, and the University of Salford. The seat, and its predecessors covering the Salford area, had been held by Labour continuously since 1945, establishing it as safe Labour territory.

Long-Bailey succeeded Hazel Blears as the MP for Salford and Eccles in 2015. Blears served as communities secretary from 2007 to 2009.

Political Career

Long-Bailey served on Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench during his tenure as Labour leader from 2015 to 2020. She was shadow minister for the Treasury (September 2015 – June 2016), before being promoted to the shadow cabinet as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury (June 2016 – February 2017). She then served as shadow secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy (February 2017 – April 2020).

Long-Bailey stood in for Corbyn during a televised general election debate during the 2019 campaign. In it, she argued that the NHS is under threat from a post-Brexit trade deal with the US, claiming initial trade discussions showed services would be “on the table”.

Long-Bailey stood in the 2020 Labour party leadership election triggered by Corbyn’s resignation following Labour’s catastrophic defeat at the 2019 general election – the party’s worst since 1935.

Long-Bailey, widely regarded as the continuity candidate for the party’s left/Corbynite wing, won 33 nominations. During the campaign, she scored Corbyn’s leadership at “10 out of 10” when asked to rate his tenure.

She told ITV News: “I thought Corbyn was one of most honest, kind, principled politicians I’ve ever met… I’d give him 10 out of 10, because I respect him and I supported him all the way through.

“What we can’t ignore was that Jeremy was savaged from day one by the press… We have a role as a party to develop the image of our leader and to put them forward in the most positive way, but we also have a duty to rebut criticism and attacks. As a party we needed to have a rebuttal unit, a clear structure in place to rebut the attacks against him.”

In the end, Keir Starmer secured 275,780 votes (56.2%) in the final vote of party members. Long-Bailey placed second with 135,218 votes (27.6%).

Starmer initially appointed Long-Bailey as shadow education secretary. However, she was dismissed from the shadow cabinet in June 2020. The stated reason was her sharing, on social media, of an interview with the actor Maxine Peake which contained an alleged antisemitic trope regarding Israeli state actors and US police tactics. Long-Bailey stated she did not endorse all aspects of the article.

In a statement, Long-Bailey said: “Today I retweeted an interview that my constituent and stalwart Labour Party supporter Maxine Peake gave to the Independent. Its main thrust was anger with the Conservative government’s handling of the current emergency and a call for Labour Party unity.”

She added: “In no way was my retweet an intention to endorse every part of that article.

“I wished to acknowledge these concerns and duly issued a clarification of my retweet, with the wording agreed in advance by the Labour Party Leader’s Office, but after posting I was subsequently instructed to take both this agreed clarification and my original retweet down…

“I could not do this in good conscience without the issuing of a press statement of clarification. I had asked to discuss these matters with Keir before agreeing what further action to take, but sadly he had already made his decision.”

On 23 July 2024, Long-Bailey had the Labour whip withdrawn and was suspended from the parliamentary party for six months after voting for an Scottish National Party (SNP) amendment to the king’s speech calling on the new Labour government to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Long-Bailey included, seven Labour MPs were suspended from the parliamentary party for supporting the SNP amendment – namely Zarah Sultana, John McDonnell, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne and Imran Hussain.

In February 2025, the whip was restored to four of those suspended MPs – Long-Bailey, as well as Burgon, Byrne and Hussain. However, Begum, Sultana and McDonnell remained as independent MPs because they had continued to be critical of the government, reports and briefings indicated. In September 2025, the whip was restored to Begum and McDonnell.

Long-Bailey served on the House of Commons science, innovation and technology committee between February 2021 and May 2024.

Long-Bailey is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for key cities and state pension inequality for women.

Long-Bailey delivered her maiden speech on 24 June 2015 during a debate on A&E services.

In it, she said: “We are a city facing the legacy of post-industrial decline. Members may recall the song ‘Dirty Old Town’, penned by Ewan MacColl and later sung by, among others, The Pogues, about finding love in 20th century industrial Salford by the gasworks wall. The gasworks wall still exists today, but Salford’s gas industry has largely disappeared, along with our mining community, destroyed in the 1980s, as was our large shipping, engineering and manufacturing base.

“Thousands of lives, hopes and dreams were shattered, with generations locked in a cycle of low-paid unskilled work. We were told that free market globalisation of industry would eventually see wealth trickle down from the top. We are still waiting.”

She added: “I am a proud socialist, and if any city personifies the struggles of the working class and the Labour movement, it is Salford. Salford was pivotal in the creation of the trade union movement, with Salford and Manchester trades councils founding the TUC in 1868. On 1 October 1931, thousands swarmed to Salford town hall, where a violent demonstration took place.

“It came to be known as the battle of Bexley Square. They were protesting at the 10% cut in unemployment benefit introduced by the new National Government.”

Political Views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Starmer stand down: In May 2026, Long-Bailey publicly called for Keir Starmer, the prime minister, to step down/set out a timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Long-Bailey was one of 24 Labour MPs who nominated Bell Ribeiro-Addy 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.

Ribeiro-Addy, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG), was seen as the candidate on the left of the party. She secured only 24 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), far short of the 80 required under rules introduced in 2021.

Labour leadership 2015: Long-Bailey was one of 36 Labour MPs who nominated Corbyn 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.

Corbyn, a veteran backbencher, secured the 36 nominations required – just one over the threshold – but only after several MPs lent him their support to ensure a broader ideological debate. His anti-austerity platform gained significant momentum, and he won a landslide victory in the first round with 59.5% of the vote.

Corbyn loyalty list: In March 2016, Long-Bailey was labelled as “core group” by the Corbyn leadership in a leaked list which categorised Labour MPs by their perceived loyalty. This label suggested the Corbyn leadership viewed Long-Bailey as among its closest allies, even as an inner circle member.

Labour leadership 2016: Long-Bailey was one of the minority of Labour MPs who endorsed Corbyn during his successful defence of the party leadership in September 2016. The election was triggered following a period of intense tension after the EU referendum, which saw a wave of shadow cabinet resignations and a vote of no confidence supported by 172 MPs.

Corbyn, who was automatically included on the ballot as the incumbent, was challenged by Owen Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary. Corbyn won the election with an increased mandate, securing 61.8% of the vote compared to 38.2% for Smith.

Factional identity and party tradition

Socialism26: In May 2026, Long-Bailey was a signatory of Socialism26, a political initiative and pressure group launched by a coalition of Labour MPs and general secretaries from several major affiliated trade unions, including Unison, Aslef, the CWU, the TSSA and the FBU. The group described itself as advocating a “programme for change” intended to facilitate a “progressive political reset” within the Labour Party. It called for a return to traditional socialist values and greater internal party democracy.

The initiative was built upon a set of policy demands, including urging the government to “recognise the genocide in Gaza”, deliver full compensation for the “Waspi” women affected by state pension age changes, protect civil liberties and embrace intervention to lower energy bills.

Socialism26 described this programme as “the bare minimum to ensure that the public can see and feel the difference a socialist government makes to their lives.”

Socialist Campaign Group: Long-Bailey has been listed as a member of the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG) – the standard-bearer of the left wing within the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). Founded in 1982 by followers of Tony Benn, the group has traditionally advocated policies such as widespread public ownership, wealth redistribution and strengthened trade union rights.

Labour ‘reset’: In March 2026, Long-Bailey was among dozens of Labour parliamentarians to co-sign a statement calling for a “reset” in the party’s internal culture and political direction. The statement, supported by an alliance of MPs from both the Mainstream (“soft-left”) and Momentum (left) wings of the party, condemned what it saw as the “insular, centralising approach” of the leadership. It called on Labour to rebuild “basic democracy, pluralism and fair process within our party.”

The intervention followed a series of by-election results in Gorton and Denton, Runcorn and Helsby and Caerphilly.

The statement said: “We stand against the insular, centralising approach of the current leadership that refuses to draw on the energy, talent and ideas of our whole movement, the continued underfunding of public services and local government, and the pandering to the talking points of the far right.”

It added: “We, the undersigned members from every section of the Labour Party – parliamentarians, councillors, internal election candidates, members and trade unionists, pledge to reset the Labour Party.”

Corbyn suspension: In November 2020, Long-Bailey was among the 32 SCG MPs to sign a statement declaring that they opposed the suspension of Corbyn and calling for the disciplinary action to be “swiftly reversed”.

The statement read: “This decision and the division it causes severely undermines efforts to unite to defeat antisemitism and fully implement the EHRC [Equality and Human Rights Commission] recommendations and to challenge and defeat this disastrous Conservative government.”

Corbyn’s suspension came after he issued a response to the EHRC report, arguing “the scale of the [antisemitism] problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents”.

Momentum endorsement: Long-Bailey was endorsed by the left-wing campaign group Momentum in the 2024 general election. Momentum was founded in 2015 to support the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and to campaign for socialist policies within the Labour party.

Spycops vote (2020): In October 2020, Long-Bailey was one of the 34 Labour MPs to break the party whip by voting against the covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill at its commons third reading. The proposed legislation, often referred to as the “spycops bill”, was introduced by the Conservative government to authorise undercover agents and informants to commit crimes while on operations. The Labour Party had whipped its representatives to abstain on the bill on the basis that the legislation is “far from perfect” yet “necessary” due to “the need to provide a clear lawful framework for the use of human intelligence sources”.

Leader of the left letter: In May 2015, Long-Bailey was among 10 newly elected Labour MPs who penned an open letter calling on the party to embrace a decisive break from New Labour. In the letter, the MPs called for a leader who will “challenge an agenda of cuts, take on the powerful vested interests of big business and will set out an alternative to austerity.”

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Long-Bailey supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore disagreed with a majority of her constituents, 53.6% of whom voted to Leave.

Article 50: In February 2017, Long-Bailey 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.

Brexit trade deal: In December 2020, Long-Bailey was among the 37 Labour MPs to rebel against the leadership’s position on the EU (Future Relationship) Bill – which enabled the government to implement and ratify its post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. Keir Starmer, the newly elected Labour leader, argued that while the trade deal negotiated by Boris Johnson’s government was “thin” and flawed, the only alternative at that late stage was a “no-deal” exit. To enforce the leadership’s position, a three-line whip was imposed. Long-Bailey abstained over the bill. One Labour MP, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, voted against the bill.

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Long-Bailey 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.

In May 2025, Long-Bailey had signed a letter warning the government that the cuts were “impossible to support” and calling for a change in direction.

The letter, signed by 42 Labour MPs, read: “The planned cuts of more than £7bn represent the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity and over 3 million of our poorest and most disadvantaged will be affected.

“Whilst the government may have correctly diagnosed the problem of a broken benefits system and a lack of job opportunities for those who are able to work, they have come up with the wrong medicine. Cuts don’t create jobs, they just cause more hardship.”

Welfare vote (July 2025): Long-Bailey went on to vote against the 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.

Winter fuel payment EDM: In September 2024, Long-Bailey signed an early day motion (EDM) expressing concern over the government’s proposed changes to the winter fuel payment. The motion called on the government to “postpone the ending of winter fuel payments and establish a comprehensive strategy to tackle fuel poverty, health inequality and low incomes among older people.”

Welfare vote (July 2015): Alongside almost one quarter of her colleagues, Long-Bailey voted against the Conservative government’s Welfare Reform and Work Bill at second reading – defying the party whip which instructed Labour MPs to abstain. This decision to abstain, taken by interim Labour leader Harriet Harman, caused a furious backlash within the party, particularly from its left wing. It became a defining issue in the ongoing leadership contest. Jeremy Corbyn was the only candidate to vote against the bill. Overall, 48 Labour MPs voted against the proposed legislation.

Assisted dying

Long-Bailey 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): Long-Bailey 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): Long-Bailey voted against 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): Long-Bailey 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.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Long-Bailey 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.

Ceasefire vote (November 2023): Long-Bailey was among 56 Labour MPs to vote in favour of a Scottish National Party amendment to the King’s Speech in the House of Commons calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza – defying the instruction set out by the party’s frontbench. Labour had tabled its own motion, making a more moderate appeal for a “humanitarian pause” in the conflict and ordered its representatives to support that stance.

Civil liberties

Covid passes vote (2021): Long-Bailey was one of 126 MPs to vote against Covid passes in England in December 2021. The measure, introduced by Boris Johnson’s government, was carried by 369 votes to 126.

Covid passes campaign (2021): Long-Bailey was one of over 70 MPs and peers who launched a cross-party campaign against the “divisive and discriminatory use” of Covid passes in April 2021. The campaign was triggered by government reviews into “vaccine passports”, which signatories argued would create a two-tier society and infringe upon fundamental civil liberties.

In October 2020, Long-Bailey was one of a group of Labour MPs who voted against the renewal of the Coronavirus Act 2020. She said the act allowed “clumsy and asymmetric authoritarianism”.

Before Politics

Born Rebecca Roseanne Long on 22 September 1979 in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, her father, Jimmy Long, was a Salford docker and trade union representative for Shell workers. She attended Chester Catholic high school.

Before university, she undertook various jobs, including working in a pawn shop, call centres, a furniture factory and as a postwoman.

She studied politics and sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University. She subsequently completed part-time law conversion and solicitors’ courses and was admitted as a solicitor in November 2007.

As a solicitor, she worked for law firms including Pinsent Masons, Halliwells (from 2003), and Hill Dickinson (from 2007), specialising in commercial law, commercial property, and NHS contracts and estates. She joined the Labour party around 2010.

Personal Life

Long-Bailey is married to Stephen Bailey, who works in marketing. The couple have one son.

Trivia

Long-Bailey shared a London flat with fellow Labour MP Angela Rayner when both were first elected.