Terry Jermy is the Labour Party MP for South West Norfolk, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Jermy gained the South West Norfolk seat for Labour, defeating the incumbent Conservative MP and former prime minister, Liz Truss. Jermy received 11,847 votes (26.7%), Truss polled 11,217 votes (25.3%), and the Reform UK candidate, Toby McKenzie, secured 9,958 votes (22.5%). Jermy was elected with a majority of 630 votes.

The South West Norfolk is found in the East of England. Historically, it was a safe Conservative seat, held by the party continuously from 1964 until 2024.

Jermy’s immediate predecessor as the MP for South West Norfolk was Liz Truss of the Conservative Party, Truss, who served as prime minister for just 49 days in 2022, held the seat from 2010 to 2024.

In his 2024 maiden speech, Jermy paid tribute to his “predecessor, the right honourable Liz Truss, for putting us firmly on the map.”

Political Career

Jermy is a member of the House of Commons environment, food and rural affairs select committee (since October 2025) – the committee responsible for scrutinising the work of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It looks at issues from farming to the water sector to a circular economy.

In May 2026, Jermy 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, Jermy said: “Despite these being local elections, it is clear that people are not feeling the change promised by the government, and voters have registered their disappointment at the ballot box. I entirely understand and acknowledge that frustration…

“Keir Starmer, as leader of our party, needs to consider whether he is the right person to take the party and the government forward. These results cannot and should not be viewed as a mid-term blip or easily dismissed. We must do better, and we must change as a party and as a government.”

The 2024 general election was Jermy’s first time standing for parliament. He reportedly ran his campaign with limited national party resources, relying partly on crowdfunding which reportedly raised £15,000.

In an August 2024 interview with PoliticsHome, Jermy said Truss was “hated everywhere we went, even lifelong Tory members, Tory councillors, people that have voted Tory all their life, were telling me: ‘I will not vote for her’.”

Jermy is a patron of LGBT+ Labour – a socialist society formally affiliated with the Labour Party.

Jermy is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for farming (chair) and tidy Britain.

Jermy delivered his maiden speech on 7 October 2024 during a debate on NHS performance.

In it, he said: “I do not come from a political family, but I care passionately about my local community, which is why I decided to put myself forward and join the local town council aged 22.”

He added: “It is entirely appropriate, but also somewhat difficult for me, that I find myself here today delivering my maiden speech in a debate about our NHS. In 2013 my dad, Trevor Jermy, had a life-altering stroke aged just 55.

“He was an engineer. He worked hard from the day he left school at 15 and became an accomplished welder fabricator. Frankly, there was not much that my dad could not fix…

“As a family, we saw up close and over a number of years the awfulness of the current process for applying for personal independence payments, dehumanising work capability assessments and how little we as a country value the contribution of carers.

“Disabled people and their families continue to come under repeated attack, most recently in Norfolk with changes to the minimum income guarantee.”

Before entering parliament, Jermy was elected as a Labour councillor on Thetford Town Council in 2008, aged 22. He later joined Breckland District Council (2011) and Norfolk County Council (2013).

Jermy served as leader of the opposition on Breckland Council for 10 years, standing down in 2023, and was mayor of Thetford from 2016 to 2017. He stood down from his district and county council positions in March 2025.

Political views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Jermy 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, Jermy 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.”

Labour Rural Research Group: Jermy 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 using the labelling rural voters as Nimbys (not in my back yard) was “toxic” and maintained “many people rightly despise the term”.

SERA: Jermy 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”.

Welfare

Welfare ‘reasoned amendment’ (June 2025): Jermy 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, Jermy 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): Jermy 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.

Assisted dying

Jermy 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 issued after the bill’s third reading, Jermy said: “I agree with many of the arguments both for and against the bill – that is why I voted for a number of the amendments tabled by opponents of the bill, including the amendment to block medical professionals from raising the prospect of assisted dying with anyone under the age of 18, which was approved at report stage.

“At all stages I sought to strengthen the bill with the aim of ensuring there were safeguards built in to protect vulnerable people and those at risk of coercion. More needs to be done in this regard and the four-year implementation period was a crucial factor in my decision making.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Jermy 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, Jermy 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

Terry James Jermy was born in Thetford, Norfolk, in August 1985. He attended Charles Burrell Humanities School and City College Norwich.

Jermy initially intended to become a teacher before becoming involved in community work.

Personal Life

In his 2024 maiden speech, Jermy revealed the extent of his family.

He told the House: “My dad was the youngest of 13, and my mum had seven brothers.

“With nearly 40 aunties and uncles, and over 100 cousins, I am sure that I owe at least my first election victory to my grandparents’ love for one another and the resulting votes some years later”

Trivia

Jermy won the South West Norfolk seat with 26.7% of the vote in 2024 – the lowest winning vote share for any MP in the 2024 general election and the third lowest of all time.

Jermy joined the Labour Party aged 16.