Rt Hon Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds South
Hilary Benn has been an MP since 1999.
Roles and committees
Posts held in government or opposition, and committee seats, as Parliament records them.
In government
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Office) | 2024 to 2026 | |
| Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) | 2007 to 2010 | |
| Secretary of State for International Development (Department for International Development) | 2003 to 2007 | |
| Minister of State (Department for International Development) (Department for International Development) | 2003 | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office) (Minister for Prisons and Probation) (Home Office) | 2002 to 2003 | |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for International Development) (Department for International Development) | 2001 to 2002 |
In opposition
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Office) | 2023 to 2024 | |
| Shadow Foreign Secretary (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) | 2015 to 2016 | |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Department for Communities and Local Government) | 2011 to 2015 | |
| Shadow Leader of the House of Commons (Office of the Leader of the House of Commons) | 2010 to 2011 | |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) | 2010 |
Committees
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Security and Net Zero Committee | 2023 | |
| Liaison Committee (Commons) | 2020 to 2021 | |
| Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union | 2020 to 2021 | |
| Liaison Committee Sub-committee on the effectiveness and influence of the select committee system | 2019 | |
| Liaison Committee (Commons) | 2017 to 2019 | |
| Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union | 2017 to 2019 | |
| Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union | 2016 to 2017 | |
| Liaison Committee (Commons) | 2016 to 2017 |
Show the other 2
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority | 2011 | |
| Environment, Transport & Regional Affairs | 1999 to 2001 |
Countries of interest
Political Interests
Source: UK Parliament Members API · Parliament’s own page
Declared interests
MPs must publish certain paid work, gifts, donations and other interests. This is a record of what they declared, not a suggestion that anything is wrong.
Hilary Benn has 2 interests currently registered.
| Type | What was registered | Registered |
|---|---|---|
| Land and property (within or outside the UK) | Other in Essex | – |
| Family members employed | Sally Clark employed | – |
Source: Register of Members’ Financial Interests · Parliament’s own page
Questions
MPs can ask ministers questions in writing. The questions show what an MP is working on, which votes cannot.
Hilary Benn has not asked any written questions in the last 12 months. Government ministers cannot ask them, so this can simply reflect an MP’s role.
Source: Written Questions API · Updated 4 Oct 2026
Expenses
MPs claim back money for running an office and working in two places. An independent body, IPSA, publishes every claim. This is what was paid in 2025-26.
49 claims. For comparison, across the 657 MPs in IPSA’s file the middle MP was paid £18,469 and the average was £19,699.
Source: IPSA, individual business costs data · About this data
Election result and area
Hilary Benn represents Leeds South. Here is who won there at the last general election, and a few numbers about the area.
Labour
votes ahead of second place
of people who could vote did
Hilary Benn won with 54% of the votes, and Ed Carlisle (Green Party) came second with 18%.
Votes for each party
Every candidate
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hilary Benn | Labour | 17,117 | 54.0% |
| Ed Carlisle | Green Party | 5,838 | 18.4% |
| Karen Cooksley | Conservative | 4,172 | 13.2% |
| Daniel Whetstone | Social Democratic Party | 1,874 | 5.9% |
| George Sykes | Liberal Democrat | 1,340 | 4.2% |
| Muhammad Azeem | Workers Party of Britain | 719 | 2.3% |
| Janet Bickerdike | Christian Peoples Alliance | 341 | 1.1% |
| Niko Omilana | Independent | 277 | 0.9% |
2024 General Election, on today’s boundaries. Source: House of Commons Library via the Members API.
Your area at a glance
Median gross weekly pay, 2025. Source: ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
Share of people aged 16 to 64, August 2026. Source: ONS and DWP claimant count.
How they vote
In the last 12 months Hilary Benn took part in 230 Commons votes.
More detail on how they vote
Hilary Benn voted the same way as their party in 228 of the 228 votes where parties gave instructions (100%), and went the other way in 0.
What does this mean?
Parties tell their MPs how to vote. Most MPs usually follow that. A high or low count says nothing on its own about whether an MP is good or bad, and we do not rank MPs by it. We only count votes where parties gave instructions, not free votes. How we count it
Recent votes
| Date | Vote | They voted | Compared with party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Sep | End of life for terminally ill adults: the first main vote | For | Free vote |
| 11 Sep | A vote to end a debate | For | Free vote |
| 10 Sep | Social housing: an attempt to block it | Against | Same as party |
| 8 Sep | Health: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
| 8 Sep | Health: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
| 8 Sep | Health: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
See every vote on Parliament’s site
Has this changed over time?
View data table
| Month | This MP | Party average |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Nov 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Dec 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Jan 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Feb 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Mar 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Apr 26 | 100% | 100% |
| May 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Jun 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Jul 26 | 100% | 99% |
| Sep 26 | 100% | 100% |
Source: Commons Votes API
This page states what the record shows. It does not say why an MP voted as they did. How we calculate this