Simon Opher.

Stroud's MP has made five rebel votes since entering parliament in 2024 — all in directions that push against government cuts rather than toward them. Most strikingly, in July 2025 he voted three times against the Universal Credit and PIP Bill, backing amendments to protect disabled people with fluctuating conditions and opposing the clauses that would have driven welfare reductions. He also backed a climate duty on local authorities when the government resisted it, and voted against expanding protest criminalisation under the Public Order Act. For a 98% party-line voter overall, his deviations cluster clearly: he is markedly more sympathetic to disability benefits protection than the average Labour MP, scoring 88 percentage points above the parliamentary party on that measure.

Beyond his rebellions, Opher is a broadly engaged MP — voting in around four in five divisions, above the Commons average — whose speech activity reflects his background as a GP of 30 years. Health dominates, with 60 contributions on the topic, followed by social care (47) and economy and jobs (27). He holds no current committee seat. His stance profile shows strong alignment with workers' rights and progressive taxation, but low alignment with measures framed around business interests or parliamentary scrutiny of the executive.

His GP career shapes how he is covered locally. A BBC profile from his first week in parliament noted he was reducing clinical work to focus on NHS issues, and the Stroud Times reported in October 2025 that he had launched a men's mental health podcast with NHS backing — a direct extension of his medical specialism into constituency work. He has also pursued accessibility improvements at Stroud station. News sentiment data covering 117 articles over 90 days is broadly neutral, with no sustained negative or positive trend across those coverage areas.