Ruth Jones is the Labour MP for Newport West and Islwyn, having first been elected for the predecessor seat of Newport West in a by-election on 4 April 2019.

In the 2024 general election, Jones won 17,409 votes, representing 41.5% of the vote. The Reform UK candidate, Paul Taylor, received 8,541 votes (20.4%), while the Conservative candidate, Nick Jones, secured 6,710 votes (16.0%). Jones was duly elected with a majority of 8,868 votes.

The Newport West and Islwyn constituency was newly created for the 2024 election, combining western parts of Newport with areas of the former Islwyn seat in Caerphilly county borough. The area is considered safe Labour territory. Jones succeeded long-serving Labour MP Paul Flynn as the representative for Newport West. Flynn’s death triggered the April 2019 by-election.

Political Career

Jones chairs the House of Commons Welsh affairs select committee (since September 2024). The Welsh affairs committee examines the UK government’s policy and spending as it relates to Wales. Its primary role is to scrutinise the work of the secretary of state for Wales and the Wales Office.

By virtue of this role, Jones sits on the liaison committee – the so-called “super committee” composed of the cross-party chairs of all the other commons select committees. It has a broad oversight role, but is best known for its questioning of the prime minister in sessions that take place two or three times a year.

Jones previously served as shadow minister for natural environment and air quality from August 2020 until the July 2024 general election. Prior to this, she was briefly shadow minister for flooding & coastal communities (January – April 2020). She also served as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the shadow Northern Ireland secretary (Louise Haigh) before her first shadow ministerial appointment.

Jones has served on the Welsh affairs committee (since 2020), the business and trade committee (2020) and the environmental audit committee (2019).

Jones is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Alevis, dog advisory welfare, intellectual property, international freedom of religion or belief, safeguarding in faith communities, and semiconductors.

Jones delivered her maiden speech on 1 May 2019 during a debate on climate change.

In it, she said: “The people of Newport West are hurting after years of austerity. The numbers of homeless people are rising, families are suffering and older people are being forced to choose between heating their homes and eating.

“Yes, we have record employment, but much of it involves low-paid or minimum-wage work or zero-hours contracts. Some people have to take on two jobs just to keep a roof over their head. That is not right, and I am here to speak out on behalf of those people in my constituency. They are not asking for outlandish wage increases or unrealistic improvements in their terms and conditions. They just want a fair crack of the whip.”

Jones added: “I will maintain an independence of thought and I will be a socialist to my dying day. I want to champion the people of Newport West and make sure their voices are heard clearly here in this House.”

Jones previously contested the Monmouth constituency in the 2015 and 2017 general elections.

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Starmer stand down: In May 2026, Jones 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: Jones 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 support 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: Jones was one of 31 Labour MPs who nominated Lisa Nandy 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.

Nandy, the MP for Wigan, argued that the party needed a “bridge” to reconnect with traditional working-class voters in northern England. She finished third in the contest with 16.2% of the vote.

Factional identity and party tradition

Jones describes herself as a socialist but refuses to identify with either Blairite or Corbynite tendencies.

She told the Daily Mirror in March 2019: “I plough my own furrow, I look at each policy and weigh it up and make my own decisions.”

Electoral reform

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Jones was one of over 70 Labour MPs who signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, calling on the government to establish a “national commission on electoral reform”. Tabled by Alex Sobel as chair of the fair elections APPG, the amendment aimed to force a rethink of the first past the post voting system.

At the time, Sobel described FPTP as “one of the biggest examples of a broken status quo in UK politics.” He invited colleagues to join this “common sense call to take a fresh look at how parliament is elected in modern Britain.”

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Jones 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): Jones 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

Jones 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): Jones 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.

Social media ban: In January 2026, Jones was one of over 60 Labour MPs to sign a letter to the prime minister calling for the introduction of an Australia-style ban on social media access for children under the age of 16. Organised by Plymouth Moor View MP Fred Thomas, the initiative brought together a cross-factional coalition of backbenchers – spanning the Socialist Campaign Group, Tribune Group and Blue Labour – to demand action.

The letter called on Keir Starmer to “show leadership” by introducing a minimum age for social media access “to protect young people from the consequences of unregulated, addictive social media platforms”.

It stated: “We are all strong supporters of technology, and of this Labour government’s ambition to use tech to improve lives. But successive governments have done far too little to protect young people from the consequences of unregulated, addictive social media platforms.”

Palestine

LFPME: Jones has been listed as a member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East (LFPME). The organisation’s stated aim is to promote peace and justice in the region through the application of international law and respect for human rights.

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

Born Ruth Lorraine Jones in Gaer, Newport, Wales on 23 April 1962.

She attended Duffryn High School in Newport. She trained as a physiotherapist at Cardiff University, working in the NHS for over 30 years, including at Nevill Hall Hospital, Panteg Stroke Unit, and Serennu Children’s Centre.

She became heavily involved in the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), serving as a steward, regional steward, and member of the CSP Council. She was elected president of the Wales Trades Union Congress (TUC) for a two-year term starting in 2007. In 2016, she became a full-time senior negotiating officer for the CSP.

Jones joined the Labour Party when Tony Blair was leader.

Personal Life

Ruth Jones is married and has two adult children. She lives in Allt-yr-yn, Newport, with her husband. She is a school governor at Glasllwch Primary School.

She sings in a choir and volunteers at a local night shelter.

Trivia

Before becoming an MP, Ruth Jones worked for over 30 years as an NHS physiotherapist.