John McDonnell Portrait

John McDonnell

Independent - Hayes and Harlington

12,031 (31.4%) majority - 2024 General Election

First elected: 1st May 1997


Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
22nd Feb 2021 - 30th May 2024
Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill
20th Jul 2022 - 7th Sep 2022
Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill
7th Sep 2021 - 22nd Sep 2021
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
14th Sep 2015 - 5th Apr 2020
Justice Committee
25th Nov 2013 - 30th Mar 2015
Unopposed Bills (Panel)
17th Oct 2001 - 14th Nov 2002
Regulatory Reform
16th Jul 2001 - 11th Apr 2002
Deregulation
19th Mar 1999 - 11th May 2001


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, John McDonnell has voted in 14 divisions, and 1 time against the majority of their Party.

23 Jul 2024 - Immigration and Home Affairs - View Vote Context
John McDonnell voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 7 Labour Aye votes vs 361 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 103 Noes - 363
View All John McDonnell Division Votes

Debates during the 2024 Parliament

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Shabana Mahmood (Labour)
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
(2 debate interactions)
Keir Starmer (Labour)
Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury
(2 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Cabinet Office
(2 debate contributions)
Ministry of Justice
(1 debate contributions)
Department for Work and Pensions
(1 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
John McDonnell has not made any spoken contributions to legislative debate
View all John McDonnell's debates

Latest EDMs signed by John McDonnell

11th September 2024
John McDonnell signed this EDM as the primary signatory on Wednesday 11th September 2024

Journalists and anti-terror legislation

Tabled by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
That this House is gravely concerned by the arrest at Heathrow Airport of the freelance foreign affairs reporter and National Union of Journalists member Richard Medhurst under Section 12 of Terrorism Act 2000; notes reports that Medhurst was escorted off the plane by six police officers, handcuffed and transferred to …
4 signatures
(Most recent: 12 Sep 2024)
Signatures by party:
Independent: 2
Labour: 2
11th September 2024
John McDonnell signed this EDM as the primary signatory on Wednesday 11th September 2024

Four day working week

Tabled by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
That this House recognises that UK workers put in some of the longest full-time working hours across Europe, yet the longer hours worked are not translating into increased productivity; notes that since the covid-19 pandemic a four-day working week with no reduction in pay for employees has been successfully trialled …
11 signatures
(Most recent: 12 Sep 2024)
Signatures by party:
Labour: 6
Plaid Cymru: 4
Independent: 1
View All John McDonnell's signed Early Day Motions

Commons initiatives

These initiatives were driven by John McDonnell, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.

MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.


John McDonnell has not been granted any Urgent Questions

John McDonnell has not been granted any Adjournment Debates

5 Bills introduced by John McDonnell


The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress.

Commons - 40%

Last Event - 2nd Reading: House Of Commons
Friday 22nd October 2010

A Bill to establish an accreditation scheme for businesses that meet standards regarding the treatment of workers, the payment of taxes and environmental practices; and for connected purposes.

Commons - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading
Wednesday 30th September 2020
(Read Debate)

The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to regulate refractive eye surgery, including laser eye surgery.

Commons - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading: House Of Commons
Wednesday 20th November 2013

The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress.

Commons - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading: House Of Commons
Wednesday 20th June 2012

The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. Enable representation of a constituency by two persons sharing membership of the House of Commons; and for connected purposes

Commons - 20%

Last Event - 1st Reading: House Of Commons
Tuesday 20th November 2012

Latest 12 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
4th Sep 2024
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to align (a) pay, (b) terms and (c) conditions of facilities management employees contracted to his Department by OCS with those of comparable directly-employed staff.

Pay, T&C of OCS employees is managed by OCS. On all GPA Facilities Management contracts, we have a requirement for the payment of the Real Living Wage and London Living Wage.

Georgia Gould
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
19th Jul 2024
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish the civil service pay remit guidance for the 2024-25 financial year.

On 29 July, the Government published the 2024/25 Pay Remit Guidance for the Civil Service on Gov.uk.

Georgia Gould
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
30th Aug 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of changes to the winter fuel payment on the number of people living in fuel poverty.

A statistical publication estimating the rate of fuel poverty for those in receipt of Winter Fuel Payment in 2023, and the proportion of households who would be in fuel poverty under new eligibility criteria, will be published in due course.

Miatta Fahnbulleh
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
30th Aug 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle the smuggling of (a) horses, (b) ponies and (c) donkeys.

Exporting horses and other equines from Great Britain for slaughter is banned under the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act 2024.

More broadly, the Government is reviewing options to improve equine identification and traceability.

Daniel Zeichner
Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
2nd Sep 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, If she will collect information on potential links between the fitness for work test and (a) suicides, (b) other deaths and (c) harm.

DWP does not collect or record the cause of a customer’s death and will not usually be made aware of how a customer died. Cause of death is determined by a doctor or a coroner. There is no requirement for a Coroner to inform the department of the outcome of an inquest unless they are named as an Interested Person at that inquest - or the coroner decides to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the department. This means the department is not able to collect the information suggested.

Attempted suicides and suicides are tragic and complex issues. The department takes very seriously any suggestion that its actions, including any related to the fitness for work test, may have contributed to one. Where appropriate the department will undertake an Internal Process Review to establish if anything should have been done differently or if there are any lessons the department can learn.

Thematic learning from these serious cases is fed into the departments Serious Case Panel, which has an external chair, and considers a range of evidence from across the department. We are looking at ways to increase the amount of information made public about the work of the Serious Case Panel without jeopardising the privacy of the customers whose cases have been reviewed.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
30th Aug 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to continue the nationwide rollout of the Mandatory In-Work Progression offer.

Getting people into work and helping them to progress at work is central to growing the economy. As part of our growth mission, the Government will produce a Get Britain Working White Paper, to set out the policy framework for delivering on our manifesto commitments.

Alison McGovern
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
30th Aug 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential health impacts of means-testing the winter fuel payment.

This Government is committed to pensioners – everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement.

Given the substantial pressures faced by the public finances this year and next, the government has had to make hard choices to bring the public finances back under control.

Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or certain other income-related benefits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged over 80.

We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit, and we urge those people to apply. This will passport them to receive Winter Fuel Allowance alongside other benefits – hundreds of pounds that could really help them. We will ensure that the poorest pensioners get the support they need.

Our continued commitment to the triple lock means the full new state pension is forecast to increase by a further £1,700 over the course of the parliament.

We are also providing support through our Warm Homes Plan which pensioners will benefit from. This will support investment in insulation and low carbon heating – upgrading millions of homes over this Parliament. Our long-term plan will protect billpayers permanently, reduce fuel poverty, and get the UK back on track to meet our climate goals.

The Government is committed to a preventative approach to public health. Keeping people warm and well at home and improving the quality of new and existing homes will play an essential part in enabling people to live longer, healthier lives and reducing pressures on the NHS.

In making a decision on Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, the government had regard to the equality analysis in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirements.

Emma Reynolds
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
30th Aug 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the steps her Department has taken to increase take-up of Pensions Credit since January 2019.

The latest available take-up estimates Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial yearending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) cover the financial year 2021/2022 and suggest an overall Pension Credit take-up rate of 63%. The next take-up estimates covering the financial year 2022/2023 are due to be published in October.

Emma Reynolds
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
30th Aug 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for Pension Credit took longer than six weeks to process in the last 12 months.

The Department does not routinely capture data aligned to a 6-week clearance rate. However, we do capture data against a 50-day clearance rate and our performance is published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Of 248,000 Pension Credit claims cleared in performance year 2023/24. 192,000 were cleared within the planned 50-day timescale, equating to 77.7%. 56,000, 22.3% were cleared outside of the of the 10-week planned timescale.

Emma Reynolds
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
26th Jul 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for children and young people’s access to (a) community paediatric services, (b) occupational therapy and (c) speech and language therapy.

Addressing waiting times is a priority for the Government and the National Health Service. NHS planning guidance asked local systems to develop a comprehensive plan to reduce the overall waiting times for community services, including reducing waits over 52 weeks for children’s community services.

NHS England continues to monitor community services waiting lists to assess the number of people on them, and the length of time they wait for services. Data is published monthly, and is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/community-services-statistics-for-children-young-people-and-adults

Stephen Kinnock
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
4th Sep 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff at the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority work in (a) Scotland and (b) Northern Ireland.

There are two Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) officers who work in Northern Ireland and one officer who works in Scotland. The GLAA can deploy their officers working in other regions to support the officers in Northern Ireland and Scotland in undertaking regulatory activity when there is capacity and a need to do so.

Jess Phillips
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
19th Jul 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of when the independent report entitled Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body: Fifty-Third Report 2024 will be published.

The Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body’s (AFPRB) Fifty-Third Report 2024 was published on 29 July 2024.

To recognise the commitment and service of our Armed Forces personnel, HMG accepted in full the 2024 Pay Award recommendations made by the independent Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body and Senior Salaries Review Body. This year’s award provides a targeted and significant pay uplift for new recruits alongside a large headline increase of 6%.

Al Carns
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)