Richard Burgon.

One of Labour's most consistent rebels, Richard Burgon voted against his own government's Immigration and Asylum Bill at Second Reading in July 2026 — one of five rebel votes since April. He also backed a Conservative-led motion to refer Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee, opposed regulations reducing democratic oversight of planning decisions, and twice broke with Labour on asylum seeker support rules. His voting record places him well to the left of the parliamentary party, with a 91.6% alignment figure that understates his willingness to defy the whip on high-profile conscience issues.

In the Commons more broadly, Burgon is an active participant — 82% voting participation, above the average for backbenchers — and a frequent contributor, with 191 speeches across 136 debates. His floor time concentrates on defence, the economy, social care, and fiscal policy. His stance profile tells a consistent story: 100% aligned with progressive taxation votes, 0% with anti-tax positions, and among the party's strongest opponents of welfare and disability benefit cuts, where he sits 59 percentage points above the Labour average. A petition he launched against wealth cuts for disabled people attracted over 40,000 signatures in April 2025, and he published a Guardian piece in June 2025 calling on the government to scrap its welfare bill entirely rather than amend it.

Additional context: Burgon holds no committee seats, which limits his formal scrutiny role but frees him to operate as an outspoken backbench critic. His visit to Cuba in early 2026 drew negative coverage from right-leaning outlets, while left-leaning press framed it as humanitarian advocacy — the news sentiment over 90 days averages to neutral across five articles. Data on purely local constituency casework is not available here.