Simon Opher

MP for Stroud

Labour

Dr Simon Opher MBE is the Labour MP for Stroud, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Opher won 25,607 votes, representing 46.4% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Siobhan Baillie, received 14,219 votes (25.7%), while the Reform UK candidate, Chris Lester, secured 6,329 votes (11.5%). Opher was duly elected with a majority of 11,388.

The Stroud constituency is located in Gloucestershire, in the South West of England. It was held by the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2024 and 2010 to 2017. Labour won the seat at the 2017 general election and previously held it from 1997 to 2010.

Political Career

Opher was a member of the public bill committee for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill from January to March 2025.

In May 2026, Opher was among the group of Labour MPs who publicly called for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to resign or set out a clear timetable for his departure. The move followed the 2026 local elections and devolved elections to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru.

In a statement, Opher said: “Voters are frustrated by the slow pace of change and disillusioned by too many poor judgement calls and political mis-steps. Across the country, we have lost support to parties on our left, allowing Reform to come through the middle.

“This is an existential moment for both our party and our country. The government is beginning to deliver in some important areas, but the leadership is now deeply unpopular, and I fear that this loss of confidence is now terminal.

“The prime minister cannot take our party into the next general election…

“We need an orderly transition that brings together the very best talents across the Labour Party to deliver the change this country so desperately needs and to stop the far right from entering Number 10.”

In September 2025, Opher was denied entry to the occupied West Bank alongside fellow Labour MP Peter Prinsley. The MPs were travelling in a parliamentary delegation to see medical and humanitarian work being carried out by organisations including Medical Aid for Palestinians. A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office described the treatment of Prinsley and Opher as “totally unacceptable and deeply concerning”.

Opher is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for archaeology (chair), beyond pills (chair), creative health (chair), health (chair), net zero (chair) and House of Lords reform (chair).

Opher delivered his maiden speech on 5 September 2024, during a debate on the Great British Energy Bill.

In it, he said: “I have been a GP in Dursley, which is part of Stroud, for 30 years…General practice is delivering extraordinary care throughout the country, but we are in a certain amount of crisis.

“We have very low morale, and everyone is complaining about not being able to get a GP appointment, so I am proud that this Government will fix general practice by investing, innovating and making sure that patients receive the service they received in 2010.”

He added: “Another thing I would like to say on innovation is that, about 25 years ago, I introduced an artist in residence at my surgery to treat patients with mental ill health, and I managed to prove that it was incredibly effective.

“We then expanded into green prescribing, getting people to take walks. We have poets in nursing homes, and we started prescribing allotments. These non-medical prescriptions are crucial, and they save the NHS money, because people realise they do not need medicine to make them better.

“The arts are crucial. We must support this country’s world-class arts sector, and we must use it to make ourselves better.”

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Opher 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

Socialism26: In May 2026, Opher was a founding 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.”

Mainstream: Opher is a member of Mainstream, a centre-left network within the Labour Party. The group was launched in September 2025 by the think tank Compass and the activist group Open Labour. It describes itself as a home for “Labour’s radical realists” and aims to influence the direction of the Labour government. It has called on the government to offer a “popular, principled and practical left politics for meaningful change.”

Compass has described the group as “an independent vehicle with the sole task of saving the Labour Party from its clear drift to the right and the unintended paving of the way to a Reform government.”

The group is backed by a number of senior Labour figures, including the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and includes MPs and peers from various traditions within the party – from the left, soft left and the more progressive elements of New Labour.

Labour ‘reset’: In March 2026, Opher 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.”

Lying amendment: In January 2026, Opher was listed as a supporter of an amendment to the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, often referred to as the “Hillsborough Law”, that would extend the proposed criminal offence of misleading the public to include MPs and peers. Luke Myer, the Labour MP behind the proposal, argued that his amendment would mean “no-one in parliament would be above the law”, adding: “If politicians deliberately lie to the public, there should be consequences.”

Myer stated: “This amendment is a proportionate, carefully safeguarded response to a real democratic risk. It is not about stifling debate or political disagreement, it is about ensuring that those who seek or hold public office cannot deliberately and knowingly mislead the public without consequence.

“The polling shows that voters across the political spectrum expect parliament to act.”

Myer’s amendment won the support of 30 cross-party MPs.

Living Standards Coalition: Opher 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.”

Brexit and Europe

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Opher voted in favour of the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the 10-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union. In total, 13 Labour MPs joined the Liberal Democrats in supporting the motion, while the majority of the party abstained.

Electoral reform

Fair elections APPG: Opher is listed as a supporter of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Electoral reform amendment: In May 2026, Opher 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, Opher 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’ (June 2025): Opher 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, Opher 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): Opher 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, Opher 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.”

Assisted dying

Opher 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): Opher 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, Opher 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

Simon Joseph Opher was born in Oxfordshire.

He studied medicine at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London.

Opher worked as a full-time NHS general practitioner (GP) in Dursley, Gloucestershire, for nearly 30 years before being elected MP.

Opher pioneered social prescribing, a process through which a person is referred to non-medical, community-based activities, in Gloucestershire in 2001. He founded the arts and health charity Artlift in 2006.

Opher was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours list for services to healthcare.

Personal Life

Opher is married. He has three children.

In his 2024 maiden speech, Opher told the House: “My father is 90. He was going to be here today, but he could not make it, which is really sad. He has been a lifelong socialist and Labour party member. He said in 2019, ‘I will probably never see another Labour government’, but he has got to see one.”