Irene Campbell entered Parliament through Labour’s recovery in Scotland. She overturned an SNP majority in North Ayrshire and Arran in 2024, winning by 3,551 votes after a swing of more than 20 percentage points.

She arrived without a national party base or frontbench record. For most of her first two years, she supported Keir Starmer’s government without receiving a ministerial appointment.

That loyalty eventually broke. After Labour fell to a record-low 17 seats at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, Campbell said voters were angry about the government’s mistakes and reversals. She called for an orderly leadership contest and later nominated Andy Burnham.

The intervention came after the electoral damage was clear. It nevertheless showed that her loyalty to the leadership had limits when its record threatened Labour’s position in Scotland.

What she stands for

Animal welfare has provided Campbell’s clearest political identity. She became chair of the parliamentary group campaigning to phase out animal experiments and pressed ministers over the use of dogs, primates and rodents in medical research.

Her position went beyond improving conditions inside laboratories. She argued that public money should be moved towards human-based research methods, including organ-on-chip technology, cell systems and computer modelling.

Campbell also supported assisted dying and stronger employment rights. On most economic, tax and constitutional decisions, she followed the Labour government’s position. There is not enough evidence to identify a broader political programme of her own.

What she actually delivered

Campbell used the Petitions Committee to lead debates generated by public campaigns against animal testing. In April 2025, she led the Commons debate on a petition signed by more than 230,000 people calling for an immediate end to the use of dogs in scientific and regulatory procedures.

The government rejected an immediate ban. It said animal research remained necessary where validated alternatives were unavailable.

Campbell continued the campaign. In November 2025, the government published its strategy for replacing animals in science, backed by investment in alternative methods and plans for a UK validation centre. The strategy set an eventual goal of restricting animal use to exceptional circumstances.

She helped maintain parliamentary pressure, but the policy was also a Labour manifesto commitment and a collective government decision. It would be wrong to credit the strategy to her alone.

The result also fell short of what she wanted. In 2025, laboratories still carried out 93 procedures recorded as forced-swim tests. Three licences remained valid until 2028, despite the strategy targeting an end to the test as a model of depression. Animal testing continued on a large scale.

Campbell’s earlier campaign to reopen Saltcoats’ outdoor tidal pool had produced designs and a feasibility study, but the pool had not reopened by July 2026. Publicity and preliminary work were not the promised result.

Capability

Campbell’s parliamentary record was still thin after two years. She had not run a department, controlled a public budget or completed a major constituency project.

She did establish a recognisable cause and helped force repeated scrutiny of animal experiments. The government’s replacement strategy moved in her preferred direction, although it retained animal testing and left controversial licences in place.

The evidence shows a focused animal-welfare campaigner who can use Parliament to apply pressure. It does not yet show that Campbell can convert that pressure into a ban, deliver a large project or exercise administrative power.