Rachel Hopkins


Rachel Louise Hopkins is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament for Luton South since the 2019 general election. She has been on the Luton Borough Council since 2011 and served as the cabinet's executive member for public health.

Early life and education

Hopkins was born in Luton and Dunstable University Hospital and raised in the area of Biscot. She attended Denbigh High School and then Luton Sixth Form College before going on to study at the University of Leicester. Her first full-time job was at TSB Bank. She later studied part-time for a master's degree from the University of Bedfordshire. She currently lives in High Town with her partner, Iain.
Hopkins's father, Kelvin, was also a Labour Member of Parliament for the Luton North constituency between 1997 and 2019. Her grandfather, Harold, was a physicist.

Career

Hopkins previously worked at the Electoral Commission and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. She has been a governor for Luton Sixth Form College since 2014.
Hopkins has been on the Luton Borough Council since 2011 and served as the cabinet's executive member for public health. On Friday 1 November, she was selected as the Labour candidate for the Luton South constituency. She was selected by a panel of four rather than by the local membership.
Hopkins is considered to be on the left of the Labour party, as her father was. She is also known to have voted for Brexit, like her father, making her one of the few known Labour MPs to have voted for it.
She won the 2019 United Kingdom general election for Luton South with 51.8% of the vote. She is a member of Labour's Socialist Campaign Group.