Samantha Niblett is the Labour MP for South Derbyshire, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Niblett won 17,734 votes, representing 38.8% of the vote. The Conservative incumbent, Heather Wheeler, received 13,566 votes (29.7%), while the Reform UK candidate, Job West, secured 8,979 votes (19.6%). Niblett was duly elected with a majority of 4,168.

The South Derbyshire constituency is located in the East Midlands. It was held by the Conservative Party from 1983 to 1997 and again from 2010 to 2024. Labour held the seat from 1997 to 2010.

Political Career

Niblett is a member of the House of Commons science, innovation and technology select committee (since October 2025) – the committee responsible for examining the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and associated its public bodies.

In May 2026, Niblett was among the over 100 Labour MPs who signed a joint statement insisting it was “no time for a leadership contest.” The letter was an intervention in the political crisis engulfing Keir Starmer’s premiership, after Labour suffered heavy losses in the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru. It was organised as a counterweight to a mounting rebellion that had seen high-profile figures, including some ministers, call for Starmer’s resignation.

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.”

In April 2026, Niblett launched the “Yes Sex Please, We’re British!” to considerable fanfare. Working with Cindy Gallop, a so-called sextech entrepreneur and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, Niblett outlined the character of her campaign in an interview with PoliticsHome.

Niblett said she wanted to make 2026 the “summer of sex”.

She added: “It sounds like we’re going on a bit of a tour…

“What I am hoping is that by the time we get to summer recess, I have got a whole bank of organisations to visit and speak with and gather information, so we can talk about sex all summer, so that I can help shape that speech for the chamber, but then also we shape our next steps.”

Niblett’s comments received widespread media attention – especially her suggestion that she intended to bring sex toys into parliament to encourage discussion about sexual pleasure. Lucy Powell, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, appeared to dismiss the thrust of Niblett’s campaign, saying she did not believe parliament was the “right place” for such an exhibition.

Niblett has sat as a member of the women and equalities committee (2024-2025).

Niblett is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for diversity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (chair), the internet, communications and technology (co-chair), ITV and motor.

Niblett delivered her maiden speech on 27 November 2024 during a debate on the Finance Bill.

In it, she said: “When I discovered that the two things that I am most proud of this country for were Labour government creations – the welfare state and our precious national health service, which both look after people when they are at their most vulnerable and in most need of support – I knew that I had found the party that I belonged to.

“The NHS has saved both my parents’ lives more than once, and I am delighted that now that Labour is in government, we will save the NHS’s life.”

She added: “Deciding to throw your hat in the ring for the longest ongoing job interview, for a job without a job description, when some people will instantly loathe you for simply being an MP – they are particularly harsh online – is not for everyone.

“Were it not for my wonderful 17-year-old daughter Lillian, I probably would not be standing here. She is the reason for my being. I could not tell her that she can be anything she wants to be if I did not show her.

“I want her to feel brave and able to change her career later in life, just as I have, if she so wishes. I will not stand by and let her be horrified, as she is, at the gender pay gap without trying my best to help close it.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Niblett 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.

Factional identity and party tradition

Get Britain Working Group: Niblett has been listed as a member of the Get Britain Working Group of Labour MPs – a caucus supportive of the Starmer leadership’s position on welfare. The group argues for a “new social contract built on employment and opportunity”, focusing on the rising number of people out of the workforce due to long-term sickness.

In an open letter, issued upon the group’s founding in March 2025, the group expressed its support for the government’s welfare measures set out in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.

Ahead of the bill’s fraught second reading debate, the MPs wrote: “Our Labour values are built on a simple but powerful idea: that every individual, regardless of background or circumstance, should have the support they need to make the most of their lives.

“Everyone who is capable of working deserves the security, dignity and agency that employment offers. Of course, there are some people who are not able to work and they must be treated with compassion and respect. But for those that can, we must restore the pathways to opportunity which are currently so sparse for millions of people.

“It is exactly what a Labour government exists to do.”

Labour Rural Research Group: Niblett has been listed as a member of the Labour Rural Research Group (LRRG) – a caucus made up of MPs representing Labour’s so-called “rural wall”. Launched in August 2025, the group’s primary aim is to ensure that policy is developed with a clear understanding of the distinct challenges and priorities of rural and semi-rural communities.

The LRRG, chaired by the Suffolk Coastal MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, conducts research and consultations to challenge what it sees as a “rural blind spot” in Whitehall.

Its first report, “Understanding Rural Britain”, surveyed voters on issues from healthcare and the economy to housing and the environment, seeking to build an evidence-based policy platform. The survey found nearly three quarters (74.4%) of respondents believe rural communities had been overlooked over the past 15 years. On the back of the report, Riddell-Carpenter stated that labelling rural voters as Nimbys (not in my back yard) was “toxic” and maintained “many people rightly despise the term”.

Living Standards Coalition: Niblett is a member of the Living Standards Coalition. Established in July 2025, the group’s stated aim was to develop and promote policy ideas that directly reduce everyday costs for households, particularly in areas such as food, energy, housing and childcare. In an open letter published upon its founding, addressed to Keir Starmer, the MPs wrote: “Our constituents will ask one question at the next election: did this Labour government make me better off?”

They added: “To raise living standards, we support government interventions that will help to increase incomes and lower costs.”

SERA: Niblett 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”.

Electoral reform

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Niblett 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.”

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, Niblett 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 reasoned amendment: In June 2025, Niblett was initially one of the over 100 Labour MPs who signed 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.

Niblett, however, withdrew her name from the amendment – the only MP to do so.

Niblett explained her thinking in a statement, arguing that “the stakes are just too high” if the amendment passed.

She wrote: “If this amendment passes, we lose all the good elements of the bill along with the problematic one…

“I don’t know how I look people in the face, including the some of the many people I have helped bring together for my South Derbyshire SEND Network, disabled people who have come and spoken with me at my surgeries and coffee mornings, and my own mum who would be excluded from a Pip [Personal Independence Payment] under the new scoring system…

“By this point I have hacked off the government, hacked off those of my colleagues who signed the amendment, hacked off those who haven’t, and most importantly hacked off people who are affected by all of this – and it is to YOU that I am so sorry, sorry that you’re going through the worry of all this.”

In a subsequent video statement, Niblett clarified that she could not “in good faith keep my name on an amendment which if it came to the crunch, would see the whole bill fall and set us back so far in getting this country back on its feet.”

She added: “I’m still learning even as a new MP but it really isn’t as black and white as ‘I’ve done something awful this week’, because I haven’t.”

Welfare vote (July 2025): Niblett 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

Niblett 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): Niblett 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, Niblett 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

Samantha Ruth Margaret Niblett was born in December 1979 in Nottingham. Her father was a detective.

Niblett held a series of roles in the data and technology sector.

Niblett’s career initially centred on account management and sales roles, including with Experian and WaverleyTBS. She went on to serve as an account director at TransUnion as head of alliances at 1E, a software company.

In 2022, Niblett founded Labour Women in Tech – a campaign focused on promoting STEM subjects and technology careers.

Personal Life

Niblett has a daughter.

She identifies as bisexual.

Trivia

Niblett was the only MP to remove her name from the June 2025 reasoned amendment to the government’s flagship welfare bill.