Sureena Brackenridge is the Labour Party MP for Wolverhampton North East, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Brackenridge won 14,282 votes, representing 42.9% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Jane Stevenson, received 8,860 votes (26.6%), while the Reform UK candidate, Paul Williams, secured 7,721 votes (23.2%). Brackenridge was duly elected with a majority of 5,422.

The Wolverhampton North East constituency was created in 1950. It was represented by Labour from 1950 to 1987 and the Conservatives from 1987 to 1992. Labour regained the seat in 1992 before losing it again in 2019.

Brackenridge’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Wolverhampton North East was Jane Stevenson of the Conservative Party.

Emma Reynolds, the current Labour MP for Wycombe, held the seat between 2010 and 2019.

Political Career

Brackenridge is a member of the House of Commons education select committee (since October 2024). The education committee scrutinises the work of the Department for Education (DfE) and its associated public bodies.

In May 2026, Brackenridge 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 a November 2024 article for the House magazine, Brackenridge expressed support for the “government’s decision to remove the VAT exemption on private school fees. I recognise it’s a difficult but necessary step to create a fairer education system and expand opportunities for all students, regardless of where they study.”

She wrote: “This policy reflects our values of fairness and equity, creating a foundation where every child can reach their potential based on their talents and aspirations.”

Also in November 2024, Brackenridge warned the government that homeless families were treating schools as “support hubs”. She said that, during her time as a teacher, she witnessed families “turn up to the school with bags because they have been evicted and they do not know what to do”.

She told PoliticsHome: “Within the challenges we are seeing in wider society there are a lot of problems hitting communities.”

Brackenridge is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Fiji (chair), British Sikhs, diversity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, smart towns and regions, and steel and metals-related industries.

Brackenridge delivered her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 25 July 2024 in a debate on the code of conduct and modernisation committee.

In it, she said: “I saw at first hand the struggles that families face every day in my former role as a deputy headteacher. I could not believe the normalisation of hardship. Schools have become daily support hubs for families who are desperate in so many ways, facing challenges that should be consigned to the dustbin of history.”

She added: “My journey to stand here today started with my parents migrating from Fiji as young adults. I was born and raised on a council estate, Ashmore Park, watching my father work all hours in demanding jobs. Times were tough back then, but they should not be that tough today.”

Before entering parliament, she served as mayoress of Wolverhampton from May 2021 to May 2022, supporting her husband Greg Brackenridge during his term as mayor.

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Brackenridge 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.

Brackenridge co-wrote an article endorsing Phillipson alongside colleagues Michael Payne, Michael Wheeler, Antonia Bance, Jo White, Steve Race, Michelle Welsh and Tim Roca.

The LabourList article stated: “Bridget is the right choice to be Labour’s next deputy leader. She embodies the best of our movement: authenticity, hard work, and a deep sense of service.

“From growing up in a single-parent family in Sunderland to serving as MP for Houghton and Sunderland South – a marginal constituency she has defended and won against the odds – Bridget has always fought and always won.”

It added: “Bridget brings the same strength. She delivers. She inspires. She wins. She will unite our party to take the fight to Reform. That’s why we’re backing her to be the next deputy leader of the Labour Party.”

Factional identity and party tradition

Living Standards Coalition: Brackenridge 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): Brackenridge 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

Brackenridge 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).

In a statement setting out her opposition to the bill, issued ahead of the bill’s second reading, Brackenridge said she remained “deeply concerned about the current state of our National Health Service, social care, and palliative care services.”

She added: “While the bill contains safeguards to prevent coercion and ensure consent, I worry that these systemic inequalities in care could unintentionally undermine its protections. No one should feel pressured to consider an assisted death simply because the support they need isn’t available.

“For me, we must first address these serious shortcomings to ensure that every person has the care, dignity, and comfort they need at the end of life.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Brackenridge voted against 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.

Brackenridge was one of 25 Labour MPs to vote against the amendment.

Before Politics

Brackenridge grew up on the Ashmore Park council estate in Wednesfield in the 1970s.

She studied in biochemistry at the University of Wolverhampton and later gained a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE).

After graduating, she volunteered at the Molineux Study Centre, working with disadvantaged teenagers.

She worked as a science teacher in local secondary schools in Wolverhampton for 25 years. She was deputy headteacher at Moseley Park school.

Personal Life

Brackenridge’s parents are of Indian descent and migrated to the UK from Fiji.

She is married to Greg Brackenridge. They have two children.

Trivia

Brackenridge served as mayoress of Wolverhampton from 2021-2022 while her husband Greg was mayor.