Paul Davies

Paul Davies was elected Labour MP for Colne Valley on 4 July 2024 with 18,970 votes (41.0 per cent) and a majority of 4,963 (10.7 per cent), defeating Conservative Jason McCartney. He was elected at 66, one of the oldest new MPs in the 2024 intake. Born October 1957 in the mining village of Caerau, he left school at 16 for the coal face, was a National Union of Mineworkers representative, then went via Ruskin College, Oxford and Cardiff University to become Operations Director of a global IT company, later a teacher, then Deputy Leader of Kirklees Council. Coal miner to corporate director to teacher to councillor to MP at 66 is one of the most unusual career arcs in the current Parliament.

On Kirklees Council he became the first Labour councillor in Holme Valley South in over two decades in 2019, joined the cabinet in 2020 holding Culture and Greener Kirklees then Corporate, and led the council's Covid-19 and cost of living responses, introducing affordable food hubs across the district and warm welcome spaces in libraries, before becoming Deputy Leader and stepping down in May 2024 to pursue his candidacy.

Colne Valley has changed hands five times in 27 years: Labour 1997 to 2010, Conservative 2010 to 2017, Labour 2017 to 2019, Conservative 2019 to 2024, Labour 2024. It is one of the most volatile seats in West Yorkshire.

Since entering Parliament he has served on the Petitions Committee and the Finance Committee. He voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in November 2024. Reform UK took 15.8 per cent in 2024.