Alex Sobel, MP for Leeds Central and Headingley
Alex Sobel has been an MP since 2017. Currently: Human Rights (Joint Committee); Liaison Committee (Commons); Human Rights (Joint Committee).
Roles and committees
Posts held in government or opposition, and committee seats, as Parliament records them.
In opposition
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) | 2021 to 2023 | |
| Shadow Minister (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) | 2020 to 2021 |
Committees
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Human Rights (Joint Committee) | 2026 to now | Now |
| Liaison Committee (Commons) | 2026 to now | Now |
| Human Rights (Joint Committee) | 2024 to now | Now |
| Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee | 2024 | |
| Culture, Media and Sport Sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation | 2024 | |
| Shark Fins Bill | 2022 | |
| Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform Bill) | 2022 | |
| Highgate Cemetery Bill Committee | 2021 to 2024 |
Show the other 5
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Highgate Cemetery Bill Committee | 2021 | |
| Monken Hadley Common Bill Unopposed Bill Committee | 2021 to 2020 | |
| Environmental Audit Committee | 2020 to 2021 | |
| Environmental Audit Committee | 2017 to 2019 | |
| Backbench Business Committee | 2017 to 2019 |
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.
Alex Sobel has 11 interests currently registered.
| Type | What was registered | Registered |
|---|---|---|
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Joseph Rowntree Foundation - £24,072.00 | 31 Jul 2026 |
| Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources | Music Publishers Association - £1,314.00 | 1 Jun 2026 |
| Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources | Football Association Ltd - £500.00 | 1 Jun 2026 |
| Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources | Leeds United FC - £340.00 | 12 Apr 2026 |
| Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources | BPI - £3,432.00 | 15 Mar 2026 |
| Miscellaneous | Member of Executive Committee of the British Group of the Inter Parliamentary Union | 28 Nov 2025 |
| Miscellaneous | Trustee of Leeds International Aid Fund. This is an unpaid role. | 6 Nov 2025 |
| Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources | BPI - £660.00 | 22 Oct 2025 |
| Miscellaneous | Vice Chair of the Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus. This is an unpaid role. | 11 Sep 2025 |
| Miscellaneous | A visiting Parliamentary Fellow at St Anthonys College, Oxford. This is an unpaid role. | 14 Mar 2024 |
Show the other 1
| Type | What was registered | Registered |
|---|---|---|
| Miscellaneous | A director (unpaid) of Transform Labour Ltd (formally Transform Europe (Campaign) Ltd). This is a dormant company, limited by guarantee, which applied for dissolution on 28 June 2023. | 28 Jul 2023 |
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.
Alex Sobel asked 149 written questions in the last 12 months.
Who they asked
Latest questions
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.
48 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
Alex Sobel represents Leeds Central and Headingley. 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
Alex Sobel won with 50% of the votes, and Chris Foren (Green Party) came second with 24%.
Votes for each party
Every candidate
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Sobel | Labour | 15,853 | 50.2% |
| Chris Foren | Green Party | 7,431 | 23.5% |
| Chris Howley | Liberal Democrat | 2,611 | 8.3% |
| Reggie Wray | Reform UK | 2,399 | 7.6% |
| Jennifer Jackson | Conservative | 2,237 | 7.1% |
| Owais Rajput | Workers Party of Britain | 691 | 2.2% |
| Rob Walker | Social Democratic Party | 187 | 0.6% |
| Louie Fulton | Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition | 186 | 0.6% |
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 Alex Sobel took part in 195 Commons votes.
More detail on how they vote
Alex Sobel voted the same way as their party in 195 of the 195 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 7 Sep | Health: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
| 7 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