Brian Leishman.

One of Labour's more consistent rebels, Brian Leishman voted against his party on the Immigration and Asylum Bill's Second Reading in July 2026 — one of five rebel votes since entering Parliament in 2024. His other defections span a notable range: backing a Privileges Committee referral of Keir Starmer over the Mandelson appointment, opposing Lords amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill on civil liberties grounds, rejecting the tuition fee rise, and voting against planning delegation regulations that removed elected councillors from smaller housing decisions. His voting record bears this out in the numbers: he sits 59 percentage points above his party average on opposing disability benefit cuts, and 65 points below on welfare reform — the sharpest divergences in his profile.

At 74% participation, Leishman votes less often than the Commons average, though his 204 contributions across 158 debates suggest he is more active in the chamber than that figure implies. Economy and jobs dominate his speeches, followed by social care, energy, and defence. He votes with Labour 94.5% of the time overall, but his deviations cluster consistently on the left: opposed to benefit cuts, sceptical of housebuilding policies that bypass local oversight, and strongly aligned with civil liberties positions that put him at odds with the government whip.

His constituency work is visible in the local press. He tabled an Early Day Motion opposing STV's plans to centralise news production, championed Grangemouth workers through what he described as repeated parliamentary pressure, and met civil servants left without pensions to arrange casework support. A January 2026 interview in the Alloa Advertiser — headlined "Labour hurt me but we need more left wing voices in the party" — captures his position plainly. He holds no committee seats. Ninety-day news sentiment data is insufficient to assess recent local coverage trends.