David Burton-Sampson.

Elected in 2024, David Burton-Sampson has made mental health one of his most visible causes. As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on suicide and mental health, he organised community walks in Southend after speaking publicly about a friend who died by suicide — coverage picked up by the BBC and The Mirror in January 2026. He has also challenged Royal Mail's service record in south Essex, organising a public meeting with executives to press for improvements, and lobbied alongside fellow Southend MPs for additional play-off tickets for constituents. His three rebel votes all fall on assisted dying: he backed stronger safeguards — including tighter advertising restrictions and clearer guidance requirements — when the party majority went the other way, and he voted against a closure motion in May 2025, suggesting a preference for fuller parliamentary debate on the bill.

At 86% voting participation, Burton-Sampson sits slightly above the Commons average and is a 99.4% party-line voter outside his assisted dying deviations. His 133 contributions across 93 debates span economy and jobs, health, social care, crime, and defence — a broad range without an obvious single specialism beyond mental health. His stance profile shows strong alignment on progressive taxation and workers' rights, but low alignment on pro-business and parliamentary scrutiny measures, putting him firmly in the mainstream Labour bloc.

The data highlight two notable pattern deviations: he votes more often than the average Labour MP for assisted dying safeguards (+20 percentage points) and less often for industrial intervention (-19 points). He sits on the Women and Equalities Committee. News sentiment over the past 90 days is largely neutral across 45 articles, with no sustained negative coverage. No significant local controversy is apparent from available data.