Kim Leadbeater

On 23 May 2021, Leadbeater was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the Batley and Spen by-election. Her older sister, Jo Cox, had served as the constituency's MP from May 2015 until her murder in June 2016; Leadbeater contributed to the 2017 book Jo Cox: More in Common.[2][6][7] Upon her selection, Leadbeater declared that she was "the candidate the Tories fear." Her selection proved controversial, as Leadbeater had been selected despite only joining the party in recent weeks; the rule requiring that candidates should be a member of the party for a year before being nominated was waived.[8][7] She had previously been a member of the Labour Party but let this lapse following the murder of her sister when she helped found the Jo Cox Foundation on a non-party basis. She was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen on 1 July 2021, with a 323-vote majority.[9] Leadbeater made her maiden speech on 9 September 2021 during a debate on her sister's legacy.[10]

In her first six months in parliament, her two longest speeches were tributes to her sister and to David Amess, another MP who had been murdered. She argued that MPs' safety was not being taken seriously enough, and she called for anonymity on social media to become an exception to combat a culture of abuse.[11]

In 2023 she wrote a report, published by the Fabian Society: Healthy Britain: a new approach to health and wellbeing policy.[12]

She announced in May 2023 that she intends to stand for the new constituency of Spen Valley at the next general election, following changes made by the Boundary Commission which would abolish the Batley and Spen constituency and create Spen Valley and Dewsbury and Batley.[13][14]

As of June 2023 she is chair of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) on Sport and Tidy Britain, co-chair of the groups on Political Literacy and on Tackling Loneliness and Connected Communities, and vice-chair or officer of several others.[15]