Torsten Bell is the Labour Party MP for Swansea West, and was first elected at the 4 July 2024 general election.  

In the 2024 general election, Bell won 14,761 votes, representing 41.4% of the vote. The Reform UK candidate, Patrick Benham-Crosswell, received 6,246 votes (17.5%), while the Liberal Democrat candidate, Michael O’Carroll, secured 4,367 votes (12.2%). Bell was duly elected with a majority of 8,515.

Swansea West is considered a Labour safe seat. Bell’s immediate predecessor was Geraint Davies, who was elected as Labour but sat as an independent from June 2023 after being suspended from the party.

Political Career

Bell currently serves as parliamentary secretary to the Treasury and parliamentary under-secretary of state for pensions in the Department for Work and Pensions (since January 2025).

Previously, Bell served as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the Cabinet Office from July 2024 to January 2025. A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs. The role is widely regarded as the first step on the ministerial ladder.

Bell came under fire in September 2025 after he referred to Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, as a “fat bloke in a wetsuit”.

Bell told a Labour Party conference event: “What Britain needs to tackle [Reform UK leader Nigel] Farage is a vision, and the vision they need is not a fat bloke in a wetsuit, which is what the Lib Dems have got to offer Britain in the 21st century.”

Bell delivered his maiden speech on 9 October 2024 during a debate on Renters’ Rights Bill.

In it, he said: “What my constituents are asking today is how we can build a better economic future – that is the question. The typical wage in Swansea is £536 a week, and House of Commons Library research shows that it has not risen by one penny since 2010.

“That is what economic failure on a colossal scale looks like. And while wages do not rise, insecurity does. A constituent recently opened her door to me, distraught at having seen her weekly hours cut from 15 to three overnight.

“None of us could live with that uncertainty, and no one should.”

He added: “I am very much not the first Jack to lack a local accent. The city has welcomed so many. Early 18th century records show Jewish names beginning to crop up, and today, our mosques are crucial institutions – ones the whole community rallied around when violence and Islamophobia were seen on the UK’s streets this summer.

“Those fleeing the war in Ukraine have found Swansea a genuine city of sanctuary.”

Bell’s selection as the Labour candidate for Swansea West in 2024, shortly after the general election was called, generated some controversy among some local party members due to his perceived lack of connection to the area. His selection came after an “expedited decision” was made “by a panel comprised of Welsh Labour’s Welsh Executive Committee and representatives from the local Labour parties.”

Beth Winter, a former Labour MP, said Bell’s selection was “an insult to party members, an insult to Wales, and an affront to democracy”.

Before entering parliament, Bell was the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, an economic think tank focused on improving living standards for low-to-middle income families, from 2015 to 2024.

Bell also served as director of policy for the Labour Party during Ed Miliband’s tenure as leader.

Bell may have been responsible for the infamous “Ed-Stone” – the 8ft 6in limestone tablet, unveiled just four days before the 2015 general election, on which was carved six election pledges. Speaking at the EdStone’s unveiling, Miliband said he planned to place the stone slab in the Downing Street Rose Garden. The stunt was met with immediate and widespread ridicule from the media, political opponents, and the public. Critics compared it unfavourably to a tombstone and the Ten Commandments. The saga surrounding the slab descended further into farce when Lucy Powell, vice-chair of Labour’s election campaign, suggested Miliband might break the promises he had carved into it.

Bell also worked as a civil servant in the Treasury and was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, serving as special adviser to Alistair Darling as chancellor of the exchequer during the financial crisis.  

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Bell 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

Labour Growth Group: Bell has 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.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Bell 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

Bell 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): Bell 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.

Before Politics

Born in September 1982 in Greenwich, London, Bell read philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Mansfield College, Oxford. While at Oxford, he was editor of the student newspaper, Cherwell.  

Personal Life

Bell’s mother, Clem Henricson, is a policy analyst and activist originally from Sweden. His father, Bill Bell, is an academic.

Trivia

Bell’s twin brother, Olaf Henricson-Bell, was appointed head of the No 10 policy unit in January 2025.  

He authored the book Great Britain? How We Get Our Future Back (2024).