Sureena Brackenridge

Sureena Brackenridge was elected Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East on 4 July 2024 with 14,282 votes (42.9 per cent) and a majority of 5,422 (16.3 per cent), defeating Conservative Jane Stevenson, with Reform UK on 23.2 per cent on a turnout of just 47.1 per cent. She is rooted in the constituency to an unusual degree: born in Wednesfield within the seat in 1975, a self described "proud Wulfrunian", she went to Wednesfield High School and the University of Wolverhampton, an entirely local upbringing and education. She was Mayoress of Wolverhampton in 2021/22, raising funds for homeless and veterans charities under the motto "Unity is strength".

Her career was specifically in science teaching, not generic education. She spent 25 years in the classroom, rising to deputy headteacher at Moseley Park School within the Central Learning Partnership Trust. That frontline experience has shaped her parliamentary voice: "Something as basic as a class set of glue sticks or reliable access to working printers has become a luxury," she told one committee, and she drew on 25 years of classroom evidence about funding disparities when serving on the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill Committee, as well as the Finance and Tobacco and Vapes bill committees.

She sits on the Education Select Committee, a placement that matches her expertise directly, and her APPG interests include British Sikhs, STEM Diversity, and Steel and Metals. She succeeded Jane Stevenson, who had taken the seat from Labour's Emma Reynolds in 2019.