Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones has been a Labour MP for Croydon since 2017, now representing Croydon West, and is Minister of State for Policing and Crime. Born in Croydon in December 1972 and a lifelong resident, she read at Durham University and was a senior civil servant before politics, part of the team that delivered the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

As a backbencher and shadow minister she built genuine policy infrastructure. She founded the All Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime, creating the cross party mechanism for scrutiny of youth violence and winning policy changes and funding to tackle its causes, and campaigned on tram safety after the 2016 Croydon tram crash that killed seven people. She served on six bill committees, including the Offensive Weapons, Police Crime Sentencing and Courts, and Public Order Bills, a heavier legislative engagement record than most. Her shadow career ran from Housing (2018 to 2020) to Policing and the Fire Service (2020 to 2023) to Industry and Decarbonisation (2023 to 2024).

As Minister of State for Industry (July 2024 to September 2025) at the joint DBT and DESNZ brief, she contributed to the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act and helped develop the Critical Minerals Strategy. As Minister of State for Policing and Crime since September 2025, she launched the Police Winter of Action against town centre crime and a Rural Crime Strategy, led the takedown of the gang behind roughly half of all phones stolen in Britain, and met the Community Security Trust after the Manchester attack on Jewish communities. These are specific, visible ministerial actions.

She first won Croydon Central in 2017 with a majority of 5,652, defeating Conservative minister Gavin Barwell, having lost the same seat by 165 votes in 2015. In 2024 she took Croydon West with 20,612 votes (54.1 per cent) and a majority of 14,226 (37.3 per cent). She has voted in 292 divisions with zero rebellions.