Leigh Ingham won Stafford for Labour in 2024, taking 18,531 votes, a 4,595 majority and 40.3% of the vote. The result was a Labour gain from the Conservatives, with former Conservative MP Theo Clarke finishing second on 13,936 votes.

Her first phase in Parliament has been built around visible constituency work rather than national office. Parliament lists her as Labour MP for Stafford from 4 July 2024, with later committee work including the Business and Trade Committee and the Speaker's Conference. Her own public framing is local and practical: she says she is fighting for Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages on the NHS, flooding, young people and local investment.

What She Stands For

Ingham's political profile is shaped by four issues: flooding, housing and planning, young people's employment, and community services. Flooding is the most consistent local theme. At PMQs in January 2025 she raised repeated flooding in Stafford, Eccleshall and Loggerheads, asking for flood-prevention investment before homes and businesses on Sandon Road were further threatened by Sandyford Brook. In March 2026 she said her flooding taskforce had made progress on Sandon Road, including clearing the brook and planning a non-return valve, but warned that a long-term fix would probably require Government funding.

On housing, she takes a pro-building but infrastructure-first line. She said Stafford needs more homes, but they should be "the right homes, in the right places, with the right infrastructure", including schools, GP surgeries, roads and flood protection. On young people, she has pushed apprenticeships, technical education and work routes, citing Stafford College's apprenticeship achievement rate and its selection as a technical excellence college for advanced manufacturing.

What She Actually Delivered

Her strongest documented local delivery is on planning capacity. Ingham says she secured £110,000 from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to support Stafford Borough Council's local-plan work, covering technical studies, extra resources and community engagement. That is a concrete funding result, although its impact depends on the council producing and adopting a robust plan.

She has also helped Stafford College's advanced manufacturing pitch gain ministerial recognition. In April 2026, the education minister congratulated her on campaigning for the technical excellence college and said the Government had announced technical excellence colleges alongside measures for 50,000 more apprenticeships. Again, this is shared delivery with the college and local employers, not a personal solo achievement.

Her office has handled a sizeable constituency caseload. In a December 2024 review, she said her team had opened around 2,700 cases and closed more than 1,700, covering issues including child maintenance, domestic abuse, housing and SEND. That is self-reported, but it shows an MP putting significant resource into casework.

What She Has Not Delivered

The Sandon Road flooding problem is still not finally solved. The evidence shows interim work and ministerial engagement, but Ingham herself told ministers that a long-term fix would probably need Government investment. That makes flooding a live test of her effectiveness rather than a completed win.

Her Highfields Post Office campaign is also still in the pressure stage. She launched a petition after Morrisons proposed closing the store that hosts the Post Office, wrote to the Post Office, Morrisons and a minister, and asked local retailers to come forward to host a replacement branch. There is no evidence in the cited material that the branch has been saved.

Capability Judgement

Ingham looks like a diligent, locally focused new MP with a practical style. She has a clear constituency agenda and has secured some tangible results, especially the £110,000 local-plan support and influence around Stafford College's technical education status. Her limitation is that several of her biggest priorities, especially flooding and local service protection, remain unresolved. The fair judgement is that she is effective at casework, local convening and extracting ministerial attention, but still has to prove she can turn pressure into durable infrastructure and service outcomes.