Alex Sobel is the Labour MP for Leeds North West, having first been elected to Parliament in the 2017 general election, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 10,749.
Leeds North West stretches out through the Leeds suburbs of Headingly to include the communities of Otley and Yeadon on the edge of the City. Containing Leeds Metropolitan University it has one of the biggest student populations in the country at close to a quarter of the electorate. Formerly a Conservative seat, the seat was won by Labour in 1997, before turning to the Liberal Democrats between 2005 and 2017.
Sobel currently serves as a shadow spokesperson on Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.
Born in 1975, Sobel was educated at the University of Leeds. He worked with social enterprises and ran the regional body Social Enterprise Yorkshire from 2009 to 2017, before being elected to Parliament. He formerly served on Leeds City Council.
Sobel is a member of the Jewish Labour Movement. He has previously spoken in the Commons about how his paternal great-grandfather, David Laks, was murdered by the Nazis in the Belzec death camp in German-occupied Poland in 1942.
Sobel is a supporter of Proportional Representation.
He has called for the use of the title ‘Mx’ on forms, as an option for those who identify as gender neutral.
He backed Emily Thornberry in the 2020 Labour leadership election.
Alex Sobel is the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Electoral Reform; Net Zero; Social Enterprise; Kosovo; Montenegro; North Macedonia; West Papua; and Video Games. He is the Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Albania; Estonia; the Pacific Islands; Uzbekistan; Western Sahara; American Football; Antisemitism; Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder; Basketball; Baseball; British Jews; Climate Change; Critical Materials; Drones; East Coast Mainline; E-Sports; Hydrogen; International Conservation; Internet, Communications and Technology; Music; Northern Culture; Park Homes; Religion in the Media; Vegetarianism and Veganism’
Sobel is married with two children.
Email: alex.sobel.mp@parliament.uk
Website – https://alexsobel.co.uk/
Twitter – @alexsobel
