Samantha Dixon

Samantha Dixon is Labour MP for Chester North and Neston and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Building Safety, Fire and Local Growth at MHCLG. Born in Reading in September 1965 but in the Chester area since the age of four, she read English Literature at the University of Sheffield, worked as a press officer for the auction house Sotheby's, and holds an MBE for services to Chester.

Her council record is the heart of her case. A councillor on Cheshire West and Chester from 2011 to 2023, she became in 2015 the first woman to lead the authority, and during her leadership oversaw the creation of Storyhouse, Chester's cultural centre, delivered the Northgate city centre regeneration, and established the country's first council led Poverty Truth Commission. These are specific achievements, not generic administrative experience.

She won the City of Chester byelection in December 2022 with 60.8 per cent of the vote, and in 2024 took Chester North and Neston with 22,258 votes (49.8 per cent) and a majority of 11,870 (26.6 per cent). Her campaigns include ending sewage dumping in the River Dee and reforming leasehold, and she has run housing support fayres with Citizens Advice and Sanctuary Housing. She served as PPS to Rachel Reeves and then as an Opposition Whip, became Vice-Chamberlain of the Household (a government whip) from July 2024 to September 2025, and was appointed to her current ministerial brief on 6 September 2025, where she has emphasised higher standards for service personnel housing.