East Ham.

As Minister for Social Security and Disability, Stephen Timms has been driving welfare reform from the front. In April 2026 he announced a "right to try" work provision -- allowing disabled people and long-term sick claimants to test employment without automatically losing benefits -- and oversaw an above-inflation Universal Credit increase reaching around four million claimants. Those announcements drew substantial coverage and positioned him as the public face of DWP reform. The more striking recent moment came in June 2025, when he broke with his party five times on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill -- voting against Third Reading and backing amendments to close loopholes around voluntary starvation as a route to eligibility. That cluster of rebel votes marks him as one of the more active opponents of assisted dying legislation within the Labour ranks.

His parliamentary record reflects the ministerial role. He votes with Labour roughly 98% of the time, but his participation rate of 78% sits a little below the Commons average -- not unusual for a minister with heavy departmental responsibilities. His speeches cluster heavily around social care, the labour market, and health, consistent with his portfolio. He scores notably above his party average on NHS funding, local government powers, and welfare reform -- and above the Labour average on end-of-life autonomy, which aligns with his nuanced assisted dying votes.

Timms has represented East Ham since 1994, making him one of Parliament's longest-serving members, and his tenure across multiple welfare and Treasury roles shapes a clear specialism in social security. He holds no select committee seat -- standard for ministers. News coverage over the past 90 days runs broadly positive, concentrated on welfare and benefits. No rebel votes outside the assisted dying bill are recorded in the available data.