James Naish

James Naish MP
Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 July 2024
Preceded by	Ruth Edwards
Majority	7,426 (12.8%)
Leader of Bassetlaw District Council
In office 22 September 2022 – 25 July 2024
Personal details
Born	James William Naish (1988-07-20) 20 July 1988 (age 37)
Party	Labour
Relatives	Sir David Naish (great-uncle) Alastair Campbell (uncle)
Alma mater	Mansfield College, Oxford (BA)
Committees	International Development Committee
Website	https://www.jamesnaish.com/

James William Naish (/ˈneɪʃ/; born 20 July 1988) is a British Labour Party politician and former energy sector professional, who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rushcliffe since 2024.[1] He is the first Labour MP to represent Rushcliffe since 1966.[2]

Born in Sheffield and raised on his family's farm in South Wheatley, Nottinghamshire, Naish is the youngest of three triplets.[3][4] He attended Queen Elizabeth's High School in Gainsborough.[5] Following this, he attended Mansfield College, Oxford, where he later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Modern History.[6]

After graduating, Naish took a role as an analyst and consultant for the Fortune 500 company Accenture, before working in Albania as an advisor in the Prime Minister's Office to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in the aftermath of the Socialist Party of Albania's election victory in the 2013 Albanian parliamentary election.[7][8]

Before his election to Parliament, Naish worked in the energy sector, including as a Programme Manager for Northern Powergrid and SSE plc and served as a director of Nottinghamshire-based property auction franchise Open Door Auctions.[6][9]

Naish was elected to Bassetlaw District Council, Nottinghamshire in May 2019, representing the rural Sturton ward, winning the seat for Labour for the first time, with a 40.8% increase in Labour's share of the vote.[10][11] Naish was elected Leader of the Council in September 2022.[12] He was subsequently re-elected in the 2023 local elections with 77.6% of the vote.[13] During his time as Leader, Naish secured additional investment in the district, including the flagship Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) prototype fusion energy plant, and instituted a new local plan, to ensure that vital infrastructure is provided alongside new developments.[14][15]

Naish is a member of the International Development Committee, the House of Common's select committee responsible for scrutinising UK aid policy.[16] He also serves as the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the East Midlands, a Vice-President of the Association for Decentralised Energy and an officer of the APPG for Hydrogen and APPG for Moldova.[17][18][19]

Naish's election coincided with the 2024–25 Premier League season, where Rushcliffe-based football club, Nottingham Forest F.C. performed particularly well and secured European football for the first time in 30 years.[20] Following his election, Naish has regularly advocated on behalf of supporters of the club, such as calling on the FA to change its rules in the aftermath of Taiwo Awoniyi's injury on 11 May 2025.[21] In June 2025, Naish was appointed onto the Bill committee for the Football Governance Bill, engaging in line-by-line scrutiny of the bill.[22]

For his first year in office, Naish served as the Chair of the APPG for Fusion Energy.[23] During his term, the government awarded £2.5 billion in additional funding for nuclear fusion energy, including for the STEP prototype fusion energy plant in Nottinghamshire.[24]

Naish serves as the Vice-Chair of the Labour Rural Research Group (LRRG), a caucus of Labour MPs representing the concerns of rural communities in the Parliamentary Labour Party, who are critical of proposed changes to inheritance tax on agricultural assets, which media outlets have dubbed as a "tractor tax".[25]

Since being elected, Naish has been a staunch advocate for the interests of Hongkongers in the United Kingdom on issues affecting the community, leading calls to maintain the British National (Overseas) visa route, as a route for Hongkongers to "repatriate" to the UK, following the imposition of the 2020 Hong Kong national security law.[26][27] In 2025, Naish was appointed as a patron of UK-based human rights organisation Hong Kong Watch.[28] He is also a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China and has called for the release of British citizen, Jimmy Lai, who is currently detained in Hong Kong's Stanley Prison.[29][30]

On 14 May 2025, Naish led calls by MPs for the British Government to strengthen protections for wildlife. Naish called for the law governing wildlife, currently spread across 33 statutes, some of which date back to the early 1800s, to be consolidated and updated in the form of a new animal welfare-centred Wildlife Act.[31]

Naish has spoken in support of the UK having much closer ties with the European Union, believing that "Britain is strongest when it is connected, co-operative and engaged with its European neighbours".[32] On 10 December 2025, Naish was among 13 Labour MPs who voted in support of negotiating a UK-EU Customs Union with the European Union, in a ten minute rule motion vote.[33]

A supporter of electoral reform and a member of the APPG for Fair Elections, on 3 December 2024 Naish was among 59 Labour MPs who voted in support of proportional representation in a ten minute rule motion vote.[34][35]

While considering the current law on assisted dying to be "broken" and in need of reform, Naish voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at its second and third readings, due to concerns about the Bill, such as inadequate safeguards against coercion.[36]

Naish is the great-nephew of Sir David Naish, who was National President of the National Farmers' Union from 1991 to 1998, and the nephew of Alastair Campbell, who served as Press Secretary to Tony Blair from 1994 to 2003.[6][37][38]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Naish.

• Official website

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou