Labour Party MP for Luton South and South Bedfordshire.
Consistently voting with Labour and visibly active in her constituency, Rachel Hopkins is a reliable government loyalist with one technical rebel vote to her name — a March 2025 procedural division on whether to sit in private, where she voted with a small group against her party's position. It is a slender dissenting record, and her stance profile fills in the picture: she scores 100% on progressive taxation votes, 83% on workers' rights, and 78% on public ownership, placing her firmly on Labour's left-leaning wing. On assisted dying — the session's most conscience-driven issue — she leans slightly more sceptical of access than the Labour average, a 12-percentage-point gap on end-of-life autonomy questions.
At 96% voting participation, Hopkins is an above-average attender in a Commons where turnout frequently dips. She has made 220 contributions across 152 debates, with economy and jobs dominating her speeches, followed by local government, social care, and health. She sits on the Modernisation Committee, which scrutinises how parliament itself operates — consistent with a representative who writes publicly about democratic reform and ran school visits during UK Parliament Week 2025.
Her local coverage in Luton is largely positive: she is credited with years of lobbying that finally delivered step-free access at Luton Thameslink station, and she launched a constituent petition on pavement parking enforcement. The bulk of recent news mentions — 29 of 54 articles in the past 90 days — fall under culture and sport, averaging a neutral sentiment score, suggesting routine local coverage rather than controversy. Voting data runs to June 2026.
Rachel Hopkins is the Labour MP for Luton South and South Bedfordshire, and has been an MP continually since 12 December 2019.
Top eight by total divisions voted, this parliament. Volume measures engagement, not direction — see Notable Votes for free-vote moments and rebellions.
Source · The Public Whip · Hansard
Moments where the whip was free, or where Hopkins broke ranks. Free votes are the truer signal of personal stance.
| Date | Bill / motion | Vote | Whip |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Mar 2025 | Motion to sit in private | Yes | vs party |
Source · Hansard
“Councils delivered highest annual social and affordable homes since 1991-92; government investment programme must accelerate to deliver post-war era level of council house building…”
“Emphasised the vital role and safety concerns of train drivers, expressed solidarity with Shaun Burton's colleagues and ASLEF union, and asked what the government is doing to suppo…”
“The UK must take the fight to the sources of disinformation and expose state actors behind the information warfare targeting Ukraine.”
“The UK should learn from Northern Ireland's public health successes and share knowledge across the UK to improve patient outcomes.”
Bluesky is the only social platform we ingest at the row level. The strip below is computed by classifying each post for substance (vs reposts, social mentions, scheduling) and then by tone (critical / measured / supportive) per target.
| When | Topic | Tone | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May | Cost of Living | celebratory | “This Labour Government has extended the fuel duty freeze for the rest of the year ⛽️ This will support millions of drivers and protect household budgets across…” |
Select, joint and other committees Hopkins currently sits on. Committee work is where much of the line-by-line scrutiny of bills and departments happens, away from the chamber.
| Committee | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Modernisation Committee | Member | Select |
Source · UK Parliament Committees API
Committee seats are where backbenchers shape legislation and hold departments to account. Hopkins sits on one.
| Department | Qs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Department for Work and Pensions | 3 | 25.0% |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | 2 | 16.7% |
| Department for Energy Security and Net Zero | 1 | 8.3% |
| Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 1 | 8.3% |
| Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | 1 | 8.3% |
| Home Office | 1 | 8.3% |
| Department for Business and Trade | 1 | 8.3% |
| Women and Equalities | 1 | 8.3% |
Pursuant to his oral answer of 14 October 2025, Official Report, col 189, what plans he has to extend grants for solar panels on public buildings in non-Mayoral areas.
Great British Energy (GBE), intends to provide support to local authorities in delivering local and community energy projects across the UK, including in areas without Mayoral Combined Authorities. This will include consideration of targete…read full →
What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the current pricing of licenses for the all-year storage and sale of fireworks of up to 2,000kg in content, in the context of the cost of the license having not increased since 2004.
DBT has made no recent assessment as to the current pricing of licenses for storage and sale of fireworks. Section 7 (2) of the Fireworks Act 2003 contains the provision to set the fees for licensing of fireworks suppliers. Fees for firewor…read full →
Whether financial resources will be made available to charities and voluntary groups organising public events in order for them to comply with the provisions of the Terrorism (Protection Of Premises) Act 2025.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 will strengthen protective security and preparedness by requiring those responsible for certain premises and events, including those run by charities and voluntary groups, to consider how they…read full →
Communities and Local Government, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing the Remediation Acceleration Plan.
Progress has been made in many areas, such as identifying remaining buildings with unsafe cladding, making developer remediation progress information more accessible for public scrutiny, and increasing regulator funding to build and maintai…read full →
Type of land/property: Residential property (house, used also for my partner's b Type of land/property: Residential property (house, used also for my partner's business)
Number of properties: 1
Location: Luton
(Registe… |
Unpaid Vice President of the LGA, which works with councils to support, promote Unpaid Vice President of the LGA, which works with councils to support, promote and improve local government.
Date interest arose: 30 Decem… |
Source · Members API · Last amended 18 Apr 2024
| Category | £ | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Staffing | 224,181 | 88.5% |
| Office Costs | 19,602 | 7.7% |
| Accommodation | 4,845 | 1.9% |
| MP Travel | 4,183 | 1.7% |
| Staff Travel | 578 | 0.2% |
| Total · 146 claims | 253,388 | 100% |
Source · IPSA · FY 24_25
Nothing tabled for Hopkins on the published Order Paper this week.
| Year | Constituency | Votes | Share | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Luton South and South Bedfordshire | 13,593 | 35.4% | Won |
| 2019 | Luton South | 21,787 | 51.8% | Won |
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rachel HopkinsWON | Lab | 13,593 | 35.4 |
Showing the MP’s own row only. Full result table: see Luton South and South Bedfordshire →