Shaun Davies is the Labour Party MP for Telford, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Davies received 18,212 votes (44.7%). The Reform UK candidate, Alan Adams, polled 10,110 votes (24.8%), while the Conservative candidate, Hannah Campbell, received 8,728 votes (21.4%). Davies was duly elected with a majority of 8,102.

The Telford constituency is located in Shropshire, West Midlands. The seat was held by Labour from its creation in 1997 until 2015, when it was gained by the Conservatives.

Davies’ immediate predecessor as the MP for Telford was Lucy Allan of the Conservative Party. Allan, who stood down from parliament at the 2024 general election, held the seat from 2015 to 2024.

Political Career

Davies currently serves as junior lord of the Treasury (government whip). He was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Davies served as an assistant whip from May to July 2026. His appointment to this post was part of a targeted reshuffle designed to stabilise Keir Starmer’s position as prime minister after a series of resignations. It came as several ministers 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. Conversely, Davies’ appointment signalled their support for the prime minister.

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

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.”

Previously, Davies served as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Ministry of Defence from September 2025 to May 2026. He was also a PPS to Baroness Smith of Basildon, the leader of the House of Lords (2024).

Davies stepped back as PPS to the leader of the House of Lords in order to stand for election as chair of the housing, communities and local government committee. In that contest, Davies was supported by 121 of his colleagues. He was defeated by Florence Eshalomi, who secured 437 votes.

In their official campaign statement, Davies said: “This parliamentary term needs to see urgent reform to the UK’s housing policy, and to the way local authorities are run and funded. These five years will prove pivotal, and as your chair I will use my platform to help drive that reform.”

In June 2025, Davies was one of 22 newly elected Labour MPs who co-signed a letter to the leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) calling for improved paternity leave for parliamentary staff. The letter, organised in collaboration with the campaign group The Dad Shift, argued that the current provision of two weeks’ paid leave was “unfair” and left parliament trailing behind leading private and public sector employers.

The letter said current rules meant MPs were “unable to support our staff appropriately at some of the most important times of their lives”.

They added: “Dads in our offices get just two weeks off, a situation that is unfair and puts parliament many steps behind top employers across the country.”

In response, a government spokesperson told PoliticsHome: “We are committed to making sure parents receive the best possible support to balance their work and home lives as part of our Plan to Make Work Pay.”

Davies has sat as a member of the House of Commons home affairs select committee (2024-2025).

Davies delivered his maiden speech on 25 July 2024 in a debate on the code of conduct and modernisation committee.

In it, he said: “In Telford, as in the rest of the country, poverty and child poverty are increasing. It is heartbreaking that almost one in four children are living in poverty. For me, that is not an academic issue; it is personal. I was in poverty as a child. I remember switching the lights off in our council house and laying on the floor as debt collectors banged on our door.

“I remember the embarrassment of queuing for a blue free school meal ticket as many of my friends got their paid yellow ones. That deep-down imposter syndrome remains and is very much with me today.”

He added: “What more can we do to support our children in care? To children living in council homes, in temporary accommodation or in our care, who are picking up free school meals, food parcels and avoiding debt collectors, I say this: ‘If I can get here, so can you.’”

Before entering parliament, Davies had considerable experience in local government. He was elected as a Labour councillor on Telford and Wrekin Council in 2011 and served as leader of the council from 2016 to 2024.

Davies was also a member of Great Dawley Town Council from 2007 to 2024.

Davies was chair of the Local Government Association from July 2023 to July 2024.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Davies 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.

Factional identity and party tradition

Get Britain Working Group: Davies 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. The bill was subject to a significant revolt of over 120 Labour MPs – which forced ministers into a series of concessions shortly before its first vote in the House of Commons.

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 Growth Group: Davies has also been listed as a member of the Labour Growth Group (LGG) – a vocal faction of backbenchers committed to ensuring economic growth remains the central mission of the government. The group, largely composed of MPs from the 2024 intake, positions itself as the voice of “the builders, not the blockers” and provides organised support for ministers taking on politically difficult decisions in the name of economic expansion.

In an open letter addressed to Keir Starmer, issued upon the group’s founding in July 2024, LGG MPs said it was imperative that “the government grasps the nettle and goes for growth”.

They added: “This absolutely has to start with the sweeping planning reforms to get Britain building again. Under the Tories, planning permissions for new homes hit record lows and housebuilding cratered. Indeed, not once in their 14 years in power did the Conservatives meet their housing targets.

“Energy and transport projects were promised but not built. That’s why we are writing to you to make clear that it’s in the national interest to start delivering on our manifesto promise, including 1.5 million more homes across this parliament at the earliest opportunity.

“A failure to act will not be forgiven by the public. Britain has a housing crisis and a huge infrastructure deficit – without strong and immediate action, this will only worsen.”

Living Standards Coalition: Additionally, Davies 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.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Davies 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

Davies 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

Born in Telford on 26 April 1986, Davies has spoken about living in poverty as a child and having to hide from debt collectors. He lived with his grandma from age 11.

He worked as a solicitor from 2014 to 2021.

Personal Life

Davies lives in his Telford constituency.

He is married to Elise. He is a father and stepfather to three children.

Trivia

Davies became one of the youngest council leaders in the UK when he took charge of Telford and Wrekin Council in 2016, aged 30.