Steve Reed was first elected as the Labour MP for Croydon North in a 2012 by-election, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 24,673.
He serves as the shadow secretary of state of the environment, food and rural affairs, having been moved from the justice brief in Keir Starmer’s 2023 shadow cabinet reshuffle.
He is viewed as a key ally of the leadership and, in his role as shadow justice secretary, was thought to be behind Labour’s controversial attack ad campaign, which initially appeared to accuse prime minister Rishi Sunak of not wanting to jail paedophiles.
Reed’s constituency of Croydon North is the most densely populated of the Croydon seats and contains the north of the borough around Norbury, Norwood, Thornton Heath, and Selhurst – home to Crystal Palace football club.
The housing in the area contains a mixture of terraced streets and some high rise tower blocks. This is an ethnically diverse seat which possesses one of the highest number of black voters in the UK. This area has traditionally been a safe Labour seat, and in 2019 the party won here with close to two thirds of the vote.
In November 2021, Reed was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Justice. He was first appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in 2020.
Reed had previously served as Shadow Minister for Children and Families (2019-20), Shadow Minister for Civil Society (2016-2019), Shadow Minister for Local Government (2015-2016) and a Shadow Home Office Minister (2013-2015).
As a backbench MP, he successfully introduced what is known as Seni’s Law, legislation that gives mental health patients protection from violent and abusive restraint and aims to end deaths in custody
Steve Reed was elected to Lambeth Council between 1998 and 2012, and served as the leader of Lambeth Council from 2006 to 2012. He was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to local government.
Born in 1963, Reed grew up in St Albans and studied at Sheffield University. He worked in the educational publishing industry for a number of years before becoming an MP. His time in publishing also included spells with the Law Society, Thomson Reuters and ‘White Book’ creator Sweet and Maxwell.
Reed is openly gay and lives with his partner in Croydon.
Reed supported Owen Smith in his 2016 challenge to Jeremy Corbyn. He backed Sir Keir Starmer in the 2020 leadership contest, and supported Liz Kendall in the 2015 leadership race.
Steve Reed is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Hajj and Umrah; Pakistani Minorities; Tidy Britain Group; and the Kurdisan Region in Iraq.
Email: steve.reed.mp@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.stevereedmp.co.uk
Twitter: @stevereedmp
