Samantha Niblett

Samantha Niblett was elected Labour MP for South Derbyshire on 4 July 2024 with 17,734 votes (38.8 per cent) and a majority of 4,168 (9.1 per cent), defeating Conservative Heather Wheeler to become the constituency's first female Labour MP. The last Labour MP here was Mark Todd, who lost the seat in 2010, and Reform UK took nearly a fifth of the vote.

Born in Nottingham in December 1979 to a detective father and with County Mayo grandparents, she spent over 20 years in the information technology and data sector, most recently as Head of Alliances, Channel and Ecosystem at the software company 1E, a senior industry role few MPs can match. In 2022 she founded Labour Women in Tech, a not for profit campaigning for the party to promote STEM to girls and technology careers to women, launched in July 2023 with Lucy Powell and Jonathan Ashworth. That advocacy was funded directly by the tech industry: she received £10,000 from Sumir Karayi, the founder of 1E, and £2,000 from Virginia Holden to support her expenses while campaigning.

She has served on the Women and Equalities Committee and joined the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee in October 2025, matching her professional background, and is involved with the APPG on FinTech. Her sex education campaign drew both attention and ridicule; the serious substance behind it, on consent, abuse prevention and sexual health, is real, but whether the presentation advanced or damaged the cause is a genuine question about political packaging.

Her majority is 4,168 (9.1 per cent), with Reform UK taking nearly a fifth of the vote; she holds no ministerial office and sits on the Science, Innovation and Technology and Women and Equalities committees.