Stoke-on-Trent South.

Gardner's most striking move this parliament was voting against her own party four times on assisted dying -- including voting down the bill's Third Reading in June 2025. With a background as a medical academic (she holds a doctorate and has researched health technology), her opposition carries specialist weight: she also broke with Labour to back an amendment tightening procedural safeguards around independent doctor assessments. Her stance profile shows she sits noticeably above the Labour average on assisted dying caution -- 15 percentage points more sceptical of expanding access than her typical Labour colleague. Beyond that cluster, she votes with Labour 97.7% of the time.

Her parliamentary participation sits at 85% -- somewhat below the Commons average -- across 515 votes since her election in July 2024. She speaks frequently on economic and local government issues, with 55 contributions on economy and jobs and 35 on local government, reflecting a consistent focus on Stoke-on-Trent South's regeneration needs. She deviates from Labour peers in being more attentive to parliamentary scrutiny and child welfare than the party average, while voting less often in favour of Lords oversight and public services funding. She sits on the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, which aligns with her academic background.

Local coverage is largely positive, driven by regeneration wins: Gardner has publicly claimed credit for £20 million secured for Meir North and £800,000 for Longton market, and made a parliamentary speech championing Longton as a town with its "best days to come." Crime dominates local news volume -- 67 articles in the past 90 days -- though coverage on that issue is neutral in tone, suggesting no particular controversy. Speech and voting data are available from July 2024 onwards; news sentiment data covers the most recent 90 days.