Sarah Jones is the Labour MP for Croydon West, having first been elected for the predecessor seat of Croydon Central at the 2017 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Jones won 20,612 votes, representing 54.1% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Simon Fox, received 6,386 votes (16.8%), while the Green Party candidate, Ria Patel, secured 3,851 votes (10.1%). Jones was duly elected with a majority of 14,226 votes.

The Croydon West constituency was newly established for the 2024 election following boundary changes, incorporating the majority of the former Croydon North seat along with Croydon town centre and Waddon from the former Croydon Central and Croydon South seats. It covers parts of South London including South Norwood, Thornton Heath, and central Croydon.

Jones’ predecessor as the MP for Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell, was later appointed as No 10 chief of staff to Theresa May. Barwell had previously written the book How to Win a Marginal Seat.

In her maiden speech, Jones stated: “I cannot wait for the sequel.”

Political Career

Jones was appointed to the post of minister of state for policing and crime in the September 2025 ministerial reshuffle.

Jones previously served as minister of state for industry jointly at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Department for Business and Trade from July 2024 to September 2025.

As minister of state for industry, Jones helped shepherd the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill through parliament in April 2025. This legislation was passed to prevent the shutdown of steel assets.

During the bill’s second reading debate, Jones stated: “This government will never hesitate to protect our steel industry and the thousands of steel workers in this country who built it.”

Prior to this, she served as shadow minister for industry and decarbonisation (September 2023 – May 2024), shadow minister for policing and the fire service (April 2020 – September 2023), and shadow housing minister (May 2018 – April 2020). She was briefly parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the shadow housing secretary in early 2018.

Jones previously served on the home affairs committee from 2017 to 2018.

She delivered her maiden speech on 12 July 2017 during a debate about the Grenfell Tower Fire Inquiry.

In it, she said: “Seven years of austerity have ripped through our community: low pay, the horror that is the implementation of universal credit, cuts to disability benefits, high housing costs, rocketing homelessness, crippling cuts to local government, increasing knife crime, cuts to school funding, and young people starting out on their lives with debt.”

She added: “Croydon is deeply special to me. I have lived there all my life. Generations of my family were born and have died there. Most recently, my father died on 11 June this year, three days after the general election. He lived just long enough to see his daughter fulfil her goal, and to be proved right about my right honourable friend [Jeremy Corbyn].

“My father was a big fan of the leader of the opposition, so there is a good lesson for us all – listen to your dad.”

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Jones 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.

Labour leadership 2020: Jones 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.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Jones supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore disagreed with a majority of constituents, 50.3% of whom voted to Leave.

Welfare

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 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).

In a statement setting out her position, issued shortly after the bill’s second reading, Jones said: “The bill is not yet law. It has passed its second reading and will be scrutinised over a period of months by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It will only become law if MPs vote for it again at third reading.

“I have concerns around some aspects of the bill that I would like to see changed. So whilst I voted to continue to debate this legislation, I have not yet made up my mind whether I will support it further down the line.”

She added: “I was with my father when he died of mesothelioma (a nasty form of lung cancer caused by inhaling asbestos). I was with my granddad when he died and with my nanna when she died. I have seen the suffering of those people I love first hand. I cannot imagine anyone trying to coerce people into ending their lives.

“But we know that coercion happens, that it can be hidden and that it can be evil. But coercion happens when it is hidden away, and I believe, with amendments, we can create a system that shines a light on and protects against coercion.”

Before Politics

Born Sarah Ann Jones in Croydon on 20 December 1972, she is a lifelong resident of the area.

She was educated at Old Palace School, Croydon, and studied History (BA) at Durham University (Trevelyan College).

She began her career working for Labour MP and Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam and briefly as a Labour Party press officer during the 1997 general election.

Jones has described Mowlam as “really powerful and very inspiring because she was just incredibly driven but incredibly normal. She could do amazing things but be normal about it.”

She later became head of campaigns at the housing charity Shelter and held senior roles within the NHS Confederation.

As a senior civil servant, she was part of the team responsible for delivering the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games, overseeing communications. After leaving the civil service, she held roles including working on the Gatwick Airport expansion campaign.

Personal Life

Jones is married and has four children. She had her first child at the age of 19.

She was brought up in the Methodist Church. 

Trivia

Jones is the first woman to represent Croydon in parliament.